NEW: @SecDef Lloyd Austin says additional unidentified objects shot down over North America over the weekend "do not present a military threat to anyone on the ground"
"They do however present a risk to civil aviation & potentially an intelligence collection thread"
"They do however present a risk to civil aviation & potentially an intelligence collection thread"
"We'll get to the bottom of it" on unidentified object shots down in the past week plus, per @SecDef after landing in #Brussels with mtgs w/@NATO counterparts & the #Ukraine contact group
Per @SecDef, the priority for @DeptofDefense is "debris recovery so that we can get a better sense of what these object are"
Pentagon working w/@FAANews @FBI @NASA & others
Pentagon working w/@FAANews @FBI @NASA & others
"Bcs we've not been able to definitively assess what these recent objects are, we've acted out of an abundance of caution to protect our security & interests" per @SecDef
US recovery crews have collected "a good amount of debris" from #China's spy balloon shot down over waters along the #SouthCarolina coast, per @SecDef
Search for debris delayed by safety concerns in #Alaska, which landed on sea ice, he says
Search for debris delayed by safety concerns in #Alaska, which landed on sea ice, he says
#Canada leading recovery efforts for debris of object shot down over in remote part of #Yukon Territory - US ready to lend help as/if needed, per @SecDef
Object shot down over #LakeHuron - @USNorthernCmd @USCG & @FBI beginning debris recovery ops, per @SecDef
3 object shot down over the weekend "very different from what we were talking about last week [off coast of #SouthCarolina]" per @SecDef
"We knew exactly what that was - a #PRC surveillance balloon"
"We knew exactly what that was - a #PRC surveillance balloon"
NEW: US "not recovered any debris from the 3 most recent shootdowns" per @SecDef, taking q's from reporters after landing in #Brussels
Policy on what & when to shoot down objects "hasn't changed" per @SecDef
"We will evaluate each & every event on its own merits..." he says, adding the 3 most recent objects "presented a risk to safety of [commercial] flight"
"We will evaluate each & every event on its own merits..." he says, adding the 3 most recent objects "presented a risk to safety of [commercial] flight"
3 last objects shot down-"We don't know if they were actually collecting intelligence, but bcs of the route that they took out of an abundance of caution, we want to make sure that we have the ability to examine what these things are &potentially what they were doing" per @SecDef
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
