White House says leading theory is objects shot down were 'benign' balloons as it tries to tamp down [View all]

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Last edited Tue Feb 14, 2023, 03:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNN Politics

Washington CNN — The leading explanation among US intelligence officials is that three objects shot down over North America last weekend were balloons being flown for benign purposes, the White House said Tuesday, the furthest the administration has gone in describing the as-yet-unidentified crafts.

The three mystery aerial devices have consumed areas of the federal government since they were shot down over the past several days. The administration hasn’t been able to say with certainty what they were doing, where they were from or even what type of craft they were – conditions ripe for conspiracies.

The White House, recognizing the potential for the spread of outlandish theories, has sought to tamp down on fears the objects could have originated from a hostile state or even from outer space. On Tuesday, a top White House official suggested they were likely harmless. “The intelligence community’s considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose,” John Kirby, the strategic communication coordinator at the National Security Council, said Tuesday.

Kirby said he was comfortable ruling out the possibility the objects belonged to the US government, and said there was currently no indication they were connected to China’s spy balloon program, which has commanded attention after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon earlier this month.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/politics/conspiracy-theories-objects-white-house

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Full headline: White House says leading theory is objects shot down were ‘benign’ balloons as it tries to tamp down on conspiracies

Article updated.

Original article/headline -

Debris of downed objects may never be recovered, official warns, as White House tries to tamp down on conspiracies

CNN — The US and Canada may not be able to recover the debris of the three objects recently shot down by the military at President Joe Biden’s direction, a senior administration official said Tuesday morning, a day after the White House tried to tamp down on burgeoning conspiracies.

“If it can’t be recovered, it’s going to be extremely difficult to say with great certainty what these things were,” the official said Tuesday morning. Asked what option the administration has to learn more about these objects if the debris ultimately can’t be recovered, the official said that they are leaning as much as possible on the US intelligence community to assess those objects. Observations of the objects by US military pilots, as well as the objects’ flight patterns before they were shot down, are all being studied, they said.

Since three objects were shot down from the sky over North America in recent days, administration officials have emphasized efforts to recover the debris and the hope that finding their remains will be able to shed important light on their nature. But all three objects were shot down over terrain that is remote and challenging to navigate, which has made the recovery efforts uniquely difficult.

One object is believed to have fallen into deep water in Lake Huron, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the search area in Yukon was a “fairly large area” in dense wilderness. Another object was shot down over frozen water in Alaska. Winter weather conditions have also not been helpful, officials have said. Even if some of the debris can be recovered, officials have also warned that the process could take significant time.