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The White House said again Tuesday that officials had been unable to identify three objects shot from the sky in recent days and that they could not actually have had hostile intent.
They were seen days after a fighter jet shot down a giant balloon suspected of spying for China.
But John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told reporters that the United States still does not have a clear idea of the origin of the other three objects.
“We are not aware of any entity or individual coming forward to claim that they are responsible for or in possession of any of these items,” he said.
“But like I said, one thing we need to consider, and we think the intelligence community is looking at it as an explanation, is that these could be tied to, as they say, commercial or research entities and therefore totally benign.”
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told reporters that the United States still did not have a clear idea of the origin of three objects shot down in recent days.
Since February 4, four objects have been shot down, including the Chinese spy balloon, and then three ‘UFOs’ as the US went into panic mode.
The analysis has been hampered, he said, by the difficulty of recovering debris from hard-to-reach areas: two in the frozen north and one in Lake Huron.
And it said there was no indication that the trio of objects were linked to China’s spy balloon program.
On February 4, a US fighter jet shot down a Chinese balloon at a high altitude off the coast of South Carolina after it transited through the United States.
He spent a week traversing the United States and Canada before that. China insists that it is not a spy ship.
Since then, the jets have scrambled three more times to intercept unidentified intruders.
The result is a deepening diplomatic crisis, as Beijing and Washington exchange criticism.
The United States has imposed sanctions on six Chinese entities it says are linked to the balloon, a move that drew criticism from Beijing on Tuesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has canceled a trip to China amid the furore, though reports suggest he may now meet Beijing’s top diplomat during the Munich Security Conference.
The Chinese spy balloon drifts into the ocean after being shot down off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina, USA, on February 4, 2023.
U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 prepare to conduct a debris search during recovery efforts for the wreckage of a Chinese high-altitude balloon shot down by the United States Air Force. US off the coast of South Carolina during salvage and research operations in February. In this image released by the US Navy in Washington, USA, February 13, 2023, February 7, 2023
A US Navy Sailor assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 conducts a debris search with an underwater vehicle
Earlier, the White House announced that it was assembling a UFO task force to study the security risks posed by airborne objects detected in United States airspace.
The new group, created by order of national security adviser Jake Sullivan, will bring together experts from the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies to analyze unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and determine if they are a threat.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday: “All elements of government will redouble their efforts to understand and mitigate these events,” adding that the task force would examine the “broader policy implications” related to the detection and analysis of UFOs on the continent. US.
Meanwhile, Republicans and some Democrats have accused President Joe Biden of keeping them in the dark.
“People are scared, upset and believe crazy things that are being said on the internet about the 3 objects shot down by our army. There are no aliens and no evidence of them. But there is a lack of transparency from the Biden admin and people are owed simple explanations,” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted Monday.
Senator Rand Paul tweeted: “As a Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I demand that POTUS and the Department of Defense tell us what they know, and what they don’t know, immediately.”