The U.S. military shot down what the Pentagon and White House called an “object” flying over Alaska on Friday, and what fresh interloper is this? The details were few by our deadline, but say this of the incident: The Biden Administration sure seems more awake to threats to the American homeland, no doubt informed by the blowback after last week’s Chinese spy balloon imbroglio.
The Administration on Friday wasn’t saying what the downed object is, where it may have come from, or what it was doing. The Administration said it became aware of the flying mystery on Thursday night, and U.S. pilots sent to take a look concluded it wasn’t manned. An F-22 fighter jet took down the object, which is roughly the size of a car, and it fell onto frozen water in U.S. territorial waters.
The Pentagon says the object posed a potential threat to commercial air traffic flying at about 40,000 feet, unlike last week’s spy balloon at roughly 60,000 feet. But that alone can’t explain the sudden sense of urgency. A Biden excuse for waiting to take down the balloon was to let the Pentagon track it and gather intelligence. A Pentagon official said in a hearing on Capitol Hill this week that another reason not to pop the balloon while it was over Alaska was to avoid a recovery in potentially deep waters or areas with ice cover.
But now the Administration is taking no chances, either military or political. The White House seems to have underestimated the bipartisan political anger at allowing a Chinese spy craft to wander over U.S. military sites for days before it was shot down.