Got dang paywalls. Copy paste that bitch.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon shot down an unidentified object over frozen waters around Alaska on Friday at the order of President Biden, according to U.S. officials, less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet brought down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic.
John Kirby, a White House spokesman, confirmed the incident at a news conference on Friday.
U.S. officials said they could not immediately confirm whether the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft.
Republicans had called the Biden administration weak for not shooting down the Chinese spy balloon as it hovered over Montana last week, a step that Pentagon generals had advised against for fear that debris could hurt people on the ground.
On Friday, Mr. Kirby said that Mr. Biden ordered the unidentified object near Alaska downed “out of an abundance of caution.” He said the object was shot down over waters off the coast of Alaska.
A U.S. official said the government did not know who owned or sent the object.
The object went down over the Arctic Ocean near the northeast border of Alaska and Canada. The object had traversed over land in Alaska before the fighter jets brought it down. Mr. Kirby said pilots confirmed the object was unmanned before bringing it down.
The incident comes less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic.
www.nytimes.com
www.nbcnews.com
