Tag: Austin

Under pressure: Austin seeks to soothe Ukraine, European allies after intel leak

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Austin’s other challenge will be assuring allies that the Defense Department is doing more to safeguard classified materials, particularly those related to foreign partners. He must also relay to his counterparts that those measures will not hamper their own access to the Pentagon’s plans for Ukraine, or other international cooperation.
Law enforcement last week arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in connection with the Justice Department investigation into the online leaks. Teixeira, an IT specialist, allegedly took photos of the classified materials and shared them to a private chatroom on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers.
Speaking to reporters at Sweden’s Muskö Naval Base on Wednesday after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Austin declined to provide details about the investigation. Asked whether a 21-year-old should have access to the nation’s top secrets, Austin noted that “the vast majority of our military is young.”
“It’s not exceptional that young people are doing important things in our military. That’s really not the issue,” Austin said, noting that Teixeira is a “computer specialist” who worked in an intelligence unit and held a top secret clearance. Part of his responsibility was “maintaining the network” that the unit operates on, Austin said.
“The issue is how you responsibly execute or carry out your duties and how you protect the information,” Austin said. “All of us have a requirement to do that, and supervisors have a requirement to make sure that that’s being done.”
So far, DoD officials say they are not overly concerned that the leak will hurt relationships abroad, or Austin’s ability to rally Western partners to donate weapons to Ukraine.
While Austin’s role as leader of the year-old Ukraine Defense Contact Group is already a challenging one, there are no signs that job has gotten any harder in the last few weeks, said one senior DoD official, who was granted anonymity to speak about the discussions ahead of the trip.
“He remains determined. He remains very focused on what needs to get done,” the DoD official said. “We all in the secretary’s team continue to be highly motivated, very confident. We know how to do this. We’ve been doing this for a year.”

The Pentagon is also not seeing any wavering from allies after the leak, the official said.
“All the signs we are seeing from allies and partners is absolute firmness and determination to keep doing it. The fact that we are meeting again … is itself a sign of that commitment,” the official said.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said the leak was not on the agenda during his Wednesday meeting with Austin. He also said he is not concerned about the leak potentially affecting Stockholm’s access to intelligence.
“We have good intelligence cooperation between Sweden and the United States, as we have a strong defense and security cooperation, and we rest assured of U.S. commitment to taking this seriously,” Jonson said during the joint press conference. “We have [been] reassured on the bilateral basis, and feel completely sure of the U.S. commitment on handling the situation.”
Since news of the leak emerged, the Pentagon has clamped down on access to classified information by narrowing distribution lists and reviewing how the information is shared and with whom. DoD is also reexamining how it vets service members, including whether background checks for those seeking security clearances need to be strengthened, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Monday.
Teixeira’s unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing, has been ordered to halt its intelligence mission as the Air Force’s inspector general conducts an investigation, the service said Tuesday. All units will also have to conduct a “security-focused standdown” in the next 30 days.
Those steps could prompt worries from allies who fear they will be shut out of important conversations. Investigators have already examined whether Teixeira interacted with anyone from a foreign government or entity before allegedly posting classified material online, POLITICO reported.
Top Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with both the leak itself and the Pentagon’s downbeat assessment of Ukraine’s chances on the battlefield. U.S. intelligence assessed that Ukraine would see only modest gains from a planned spring counteroffensive, The Washington Post reported.
“The same people who said Kyiv would fall in three days are now leaking harmful and equally ridiculous information ahead of an offensive critically important for the entire free world,” a person in regular contact with senior officials in Kyiv told POLITICO.
Yet this is not the first time DoD has expressed reservations about Ukraine’s capabilities: Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley, who will also be leading the meeting at Ramstein alongside Austin, said last fall that he did not think Kyiv could expel Russian forces from all of Ukraine.
Austin is scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, on Friday ahead of the larger group meeting.
In an outward sign of the Pentagon’s continuing support for Ukraine, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced another $325 million in additional military aid for Ukraine, the 36th drawdown of equipment from U.S. stocks since the conflict began and the first since the leak came to light.
The package, which primarily includes munitions, missiles and anti-armor capabilities, is focused on boosting Ukraine’s weapons stocks ahead of a widely anticipated spring offensive.
Also on Wednesday, Kyiv received two Patriot missile defense systems, one from the U.S. and one as part of a combined effort from Germany and the Netherlands, which will be used to defend against Russian air and missile attacks.
European security officials, on the other hand, are less disturbed by the leaks and what they contain.
“I can’t detect any change in mood,” said one senior European diplomat, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal alliance dynamics.
The U.S., the diplomat said, “has informed allies about the leak and about their efforts to clarify what happened. Within the alliance and in the Ramstein format, work continues with the aim of keeping up the support to Ukraine.”
A second senior European diplomat also said they did not see a shift as a result of the leaks.
“In any case no classified NATO documents were leaked,” this person said, adding that it’s “not a big concern in the house.”
While some officials do say the leaks are an issue, they also argue that risks for intelligence-sharing already exist within the large Ramstein group format and the U.S. leak doesn’t change the bigger picture.
“The leaks have a negative impact, but they will not affect that much of the information sharing with the U.S., nor the plans to continue the support for Ukraine,” said a third senior European diplomat. Friday’s Ramstein meeting, the diplomat said, “will go along just fine.”
There is a strong focus now, officials say, on addressing industrial production challenges.
Resolve is “not diminished in any way,” said the first senior European diplomat. The alliance’s national armaments directors “will work even harder on ramping up defense industry capacity and on getting the right signals to industry,” the diplomat said.
There is, they added, “a very palpable sense of urgency.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 20, 2023
Austin huddles with leaders in Sweden as momentum builds for NATO bid

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“We encourage our allies, Türkiye and Hungary, to ratify Sweden’s accession as soon as possible,” Austin later said at a joint press conference with Jonson in front of the Visby-class corvette Härnösand, a new class of ships designed for stealth and countering undersea mines and submarines. “Sweden’s membership in NATO is going to mean a stronger alliance and a more secure Europe.”
There are other signs the logjam is breaking. After Finland officially joined NATO, the U.S. this week approved Turkey’s request to purchase upgrades for its existing fleet of American-made F-16 fighter jets. Ankara has rejected any link between its request for F-16s and NATO votes. A larger $20 billion deal to sell 40 F-16s to Turkey is still stalled in Congress.
“It’s important to all of us that they make the decision sooner rather than later, because we look forward to having a very capable Sweden sitting at the desk beside us in Vilnius,” Austin said.
Turkey and Hungary ratified Finland’s membership bid in March — but left Sweden hanging. The decision, officials and experts say, is linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strategy ahead of elections scheduled for May 14.
Helsinki and Stockholm have both introduced policy changes to address Turkish concerns on support for Kurdish groups and limitations on arms exports.
But Ankara raised more qualms with Sweden than Finland — and tensions with Stockholm escalated following a Quran burning at a protest this year. At the same time, there is speculation that Erdoğan is using the holdup as a negotiating chip in other discussions with allies.
Turkish officials insist that they support NATO expansion in principle and will ratify Sweden’s bid as soon as Ankara determines that Stockholm has met its commitments under a trilateral deal reached between Turkey, Sweden and Finland last summer.
“We have joined all the other allies in inviting Sweden and Finland to become a member of this alliance in Madrid,” said one Turkish official who, like others for this story, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters or to speak ahead of official announcements. “That showed our commitment to open door policy.”

At NATO, meanwhile, officials still hold out hope that Turkey’s parliament will sign off on Sweden’s bid ahead of the alliance’s planned July leaders’ summit — and that Hungary will quickly ratify once Ankara signals that it will move.
“My aim remains that after the Turkish elections, but before the Vilnius summit, we can also have the ratification of Sweden,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told POLITICO last month.
Until the issue is resolved, Austin is eager to show support for the Nordic country located on NATO’s northern flank.
“The Sweden trip is in order to make very clear U.S. support for Sweden’s application for membership in NATO, to reassure not just the government but the people of Sweden that the United States strongly supports Sweden’s accession to NATO,” a senior Defense Department official said.
A Swedish official called the secretary’s visit “very significant” due to both the country’s ongoing NATO bid and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Both Sweden and Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, have long championed a neutral military and foreign policy. But when Russia invaded Ukraine last year, public opinion shifted almost overnight toward support for NATO members.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything,” Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, wrote last week.
Austin and his delegation, which included Ambassador to Sweden Erik Ramanathan and Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith, met with Jonson and Gen. Micael Bydén at the Muskö base on Wednesday. After their meeting, they visited the Maritime Operations Center.
The delegation then took the Härnösand across the Stockholm archipelago to Berga Naval Base. Austin watched from the deck as two combats boats filled with Swedish marines conducted a mock amphibious landing on one of the islands in the archipelago. Two Swedish fighter jets flew overhead.
The U.S. regularly exercises with Sweden in the sea and air in the Baltic region. Once Sweden is a member of NATO, the country’s “extraordinary advanced military capabilities” will “significantly enhance NATO’s military capability, particularly in the north,” the senior DoD official said.
Russia has a significant presence in the Baltic Sea, including a fleet of stealthy submarines that patrol the northern waters. However, the official said they were not aware of any heightened risk right now in the region “beyond the normal Russian presence and operations.”
Sweden has provided 1.9 billion euros in support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia, including 1.5 billion euros in military aid. In recent months, the U.S. has ramped up military cooperation with Sweden, including increasing the number of ship and bomber task force visits, as well as high-level engagements.
“Sweden feels more secure now after we became invited to NATO,” Jonson said.
Lili Bayer contributed to this report from Brussels.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 19, 2023
‘It’s a powerful effect’: Austin fires back at GOP senator’s blockade of military promotions

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“There are a number of things happening globally that indicate that we could be in a contest on any one given day,” Austin said. “Not approving the recommendations for promotions actually creates a ripple effect through the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be.”
“The effects are cumulative and it will affect families. It will affect kids going to schools because they won’t be able to change their duty station,” he added. “It’s a powerful effect and will impact on our readiness.”
On the other side is Tuberville, a member of the Armed Services Committee, who is following through on a threat to object to quick confirmations of Pentagon civilian nominees and senior military officer promotions after Austin rolled out policies that cover expenses and permit leave for troops who have to travel to obtain abortions.
President Joe Biden’s civilian nominees have been mired in Senate gridlock for much of his term. But senior military promotions typically cruise to Senate approval with little opposition, with the chamber sometimes approving hundreds of moves at once.
The volume of senior military promotions makes it harder for Senate Democrats to get around Tuberville’s objections than it is for civilian nominees. And Tuberville has indicated he won’t stop his obstruction of nominees unless the abortion policy is reversed or suspended.
Tuberville and Austin spoke last week, but the Alabama Republican hasn’t budged. Tuberville’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who teed up the question at Tuesday’s hearing, agreed with Austin. He warned of senior military positions that would come open in the coming months, including the next Joint Chiefs chair.
“As I look forward, I have never in my almost three decades here seen so many key military positions coming up for replacement,” Reed said.

“If we cannot resolve the situation, we will be, in many respects, leaderless at a time of great conflict,” the chair warned. “So, I would hope we would expedite and move quickly on this front.”
A Defense Department official said the Pentagon projects that, between now and the end of the year, 650 general and flag officers will require Senate confirmation. Eighty of those are three and four-star generals or admirals, the official noted.
A plethora of senior military leaders are set to retire in the coming months, including top officers in the Marine Corps, Navy and Army. Multiple combatant commanders, including the heads of U.S. Northern Command, Space Command and Cyber Command, are also set to rotate out of their posts.
Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley, who testified alongside Austin, is also set to retire in the fall when his four-year term as the military’s top officer expires.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has noted that the list includes officers tapped to command naval forces in the Pacific and Middle East, as well as a military representative to the NATO Military Committee.
In a speech Monday criticizing Tuberville, Schumer said the impasse risks “permanently politicizing the confirmation of military personnel.”
“If every single one of us objected to the promotion of military personnel whenever we feel passionately or strongly about an issue, our military would simply grind to a halt,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Paul McLeary and Lara Seligman contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023
Austin admits admin should’ve notified Congress ‘earlier’ about Syria strike

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The gap prompted Republicans to question if the administration held off on notifying Congress to shield Kurilla from tough questions and to ensure the war-powers measure sailed through the upper chamber.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Austin on Tuesday if the Pentagon’s congressional affairs team should’ve notified Congress sooner, especially because of the war powers vote. Austin agreed: “We should’ve notified you earlier.”
The secretary noted that the U.S. suffered an attack and responded in one day, letting Congress know about both events in between. “We take the War Powers Act very seriously,” Austin said, seated alongside Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley.
Later in the hearing, Austin told Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that there was no connection between the notifications and the war powers vote.
“Secretary Austin, I don’t believe you,” Cotton responded, noting that an amendment by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) “directly touched” on the Syria strike scenario. “That’s my belief, nothing you can say is going to change my belief on that.”
“I just want to say, senator, that is absolutely not true,” Austin said.
“Maybe you didn’t personally do it, but I believe entirely that people in your office did that,” Cotton replied.
Tess Bridgeman, the co-editor in chief of Just Security, told POLITICO on Monday that the executive branch isn’t required to include casualty information in reports to Congress.

“That said, the Biden administration did include casualty information in its notification to Congress, even though it was not required to do so,” she added.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023
Austin, Biden accused of delaying action on the Chinese spy balloon

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Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) ripped Biden and Austin, accusing them of delaying action.
“So on the fifth day, it is apparent that you took the right steps,” Wicker told VanHerck. “But it’s also clear that you received no direction from the president of the United States or the secretary of Defense until the fifth day of this crisis, by which point the balloon had traversed Alaska and Canada and then reentered the United States.”
But Defense Department spokesperson Sabrina Singh disputed the assertion, noting that Austin had been communicating with Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley and VanHerck to develop options earlier than the discussion on Feb. 1. The Feb. 1 call was scheduled by the secretary’s team because Austin wanted to review those options, Singh said.
The comments on Thursday shed new light on the Biden administration’s handling of the incursion, from the balloon’s detection near a remote island chain off Alaska until it was shot down by an Air Force F-22 on Feb. 4. They reveal that the military was prepared to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was detected on radar as it flew over a remote island chain off Alaska, but did not have the legal authority to do so until days later.
A senior Defense Department official noted that VanHerck did not initially recommend shooting down the balloon, and that it was the general’s preference to observe it instead. Austin pushed the commander to consider “kinetic options,” said the person, who was granted anonymity in order to describe internal deliberations.
Critics have accused the administration of mishandling the incident, specifically faulting the decision to not eliminate the balloon as soon as it was spotted and instead wait until it was over water a week later. Lawmakers, especially Wicker, have also pressed the Pentagon to answer specific follow-up questions about the decision process and about previous balloon incursions over the past few years that have only recently come to light.
“So all that was needed on January 28 was to pull the proverbial trigger?” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked during the hearing.
“Yes,” VanHerck responded. “Had they had hostile intent or hostile act, I had the authority and I would have made that decision. So you’re exactly correct. [At] that point, it was not my decision to make to pull the trigger.” In the case of a direct threat to the homeland, VanHerck has the legal authority to take the shot, he explained. Without that determination, that authority resides with the Pentagon chief or the president.

“If the administration’s policymakers thought they had legal justification to shoot it down off the coast of Carolina, surely they have legal justification to shoot off the coast of Alaska,” Cotton followed up. VanHerck responded: “My assessment is the legal basis would have been the same for either place.”
VanHerck also used his appearance on Capitol Hill to fill in other details from the initial timeline. A senior Defense Department official told reporters in early February that the president asked for military options when he was notified on Jan. 31. VanHerck on Thursday said he did not present options to Austin until 7 a.m. on Feb. 1.
That same day, Feb. 1, Biden told the military to take out the balloon, which was flying over Montana after leaving Canadian airspace. The military scrambled F-22 fighter jets at the time in case the decision was made to shoot it down. But top generals ultimately advised the president to wait until the craft was over water because of the risk to people on the ground from falling debris.
VanHerck said that if he had been asked to provide options to Austin or the president earlier, while the balloon was still over Alaska, he would have been prepared to do so, he said.
VanHerck said the intelligence community first made him aware of the balloon on Friday, Jan. 27. He spoke with Milley that evening about his plan to send aircraft to intercept and assess the craft the next day.
The military’s North American Aerospace Defense Command detected the balloon on radar the next day, Jan. 28, VanHerck said. That same day, the general sent two F-35 and two F-16 fighter jets — all of them armed — to intercept the balloon, he said in response to questioning by Cotton.
Also on the 28th, VanHerck officially notified his chain of command, sending classified emails to Milley and Austin’s military assistant, he said. He did not have any direct communications with Austin at the time, and does not know when Biden was notified.
At the time, the military assessed that the balloon did not present a threat, VanHerck said, explaining that “hostile intent would be maneuvering to an offensive advantage on platform and airplane or shooting missiles or weapons would be a hostile act.”
The next day, on Jan. 29, VanHerck advised Austin and Milley “that he was looking at options to engage the balloon should that be directed or if the balloon became a threat to safety of flight,” according to Singh. After the balloon re-entered U.S. airspace on Jan. 31, the president, through national security adviser Jake Sullivan, directed the military to “refine and present options to shoot down the balloon,” she said.
The hearing comes almost two months after the Chinese surveillance balloon first emerged over the U.S. Since then, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have pressed Biden officials for more details on what led the administration to shoot down the inflatable, what it’s learned from its debris and what more it plans to do to track aerial objects floating in American airspace.
Both Republicans and Democrats have said they are still waiting for answers to their questions despite several rounds of briefings — some of them classified — with the administration.
The questions being raised on Capitol Hill are not solely focused on the surveillance balloon — they are also about the existence of hundreds of unidentified aerial phenomena, which are flying objects that have not been classified as balloons or other surveillance tools.
An office inside the Pentagon known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office is conducting a review of those objects, some of which may be owned by foreign governments. Lawmakers want to know whether the U.S. has the capability to not only track those objects but to analyze them in near real-time.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 24, 2023
Two House panel chairs are pressing Lloyd Austin on whether personnel records beyond the Air Force were improperly released during the last election cycle.

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The Air Force has confirmed release of the military records of seven GOP congressional candidates.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 23, 2023
Senators from both parties press Austin on sending F-16s to Ukraine

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“After speaking with U.S., Ukrainian, and foreign leaders working to support Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference last month, we believe the U.S. needs to take a hard look at providing F-16 aircraft to Ukraine,” the senators wrote. “This would be a significant capability that could prove to be a game changer on the battlefield.”
The letter was organized by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
The senators requested Austin provide them with assessments by the end of the week on a variety of factors needed to successfully transfer F-16s to Ukraine.
Among their questions, the lawmakers asked how high Ukrainian officials are ranking fighter jets when making requests for weapons and how the F-16s might be sourced if approved — either newly produced or from current inventories. They also sought the military’s assessment of what impact F-16s would have on the conflict and how quickly Ukrainian pilots could be trained on the jets.
The group hailed reports that two Ukrainian pilots came to the U.S. for a fighter skills assessment at Tucson’s Morris Air National Guard Base, in Kelly’s home state, which they called a “critical step in gauging” their readiness to fly F-16s.
Also signing onto the letter were Democrats Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Jacky Rosen of Nevada as well as Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Ted Budd of North Carolina.
Bipartisan efforts to convince the Biden administration to send F-16s, or facilitate other countries sending them to Ukraine, have been bolstered by assessments such as those of Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Europe. Cavoli told lawmakers behind closed doors at the Munich Security Conference last month that sending advanced weapons, including F-16s and long-range missiles, could help bolster Ukraine’s defenses.
But top civilian officials, including Biden and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, say fighters aren’t an immediate battlefield need compared to other capabilities.

Pentagon policy chief Colin Kahl also defended the administration’s stance, telling the House Armed Services Committee last month that the most optimistic timeline for delivering older F-16s would be roughly 18 months, while producing newer jets could take three to six years to deliver.
“It is a priority for the Ukrainians, but it’s not one of their top three priorities,” Kahl testified. “Their top priorities are air defense systems … artillery and fires, which we’ve talked about, and armor and mechanized systems.”
The Senate letter follows a bipartisan effort in the House, spearheaded by Maine Democrat Jared Golden, to convince Biden to send Kyiv F-16s or similar aircraft.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 15, 2023
Austin makes surprise trip to Baghdad

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During the visit, Austin met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Defense Minister Thabet Muhammad Al-Abbasi.
Iraq has served as a point of friction between the U.S. and Iran, with Tehran’s influence in the region growing over the past two decades. Despite U.S. successes in ousting the group from territory it controlled six years ago, Islamic State fighters and sleeper cells have continued to launch attacks in Syria and Iraq, killing or wounding dozens of Iraqi troops in recent months.
“We’ll continue working to accomplish this mission together. Through the global coalition to defeat Daesh, we liberated more than 50,000 square kilometers from Daesh and freed more than 4.5 million Iraqis from their cruel grip,” Austin told reporters, using an Arabic name for the Islamic State.
In his address, Austin also underscored the United States’ long-term commitment to Iraq, vowing to defend the nation and outlast the extremist group.
“We continue to believe that Iraq’s greater integration with its Arab partners in the region will deliver increased stability, security, and prosperity, and it will pay dividends not only for Iraqi citizens, but for all people of the region,” he said, according to a readout.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 7, 2023
Austin warns that China providing support to Russia would be ‘ill-advised’

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Austin said Friday while the Pentagon hasn’t yet seen China provide any military assistance to Russia, Beijing “hasn’t taken that off the table for sure.” The Defense secretary said he engaged his counterpart, Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe, “early on” to tell him “this would be a very bad mistake if China were to do this” and that it would “further complicate things.”
“China has a lot of capability in terms of munitions and weapons,” Austin said. “And if they provide the substantial support to Russia, it prolongs the conflict.”
The Pentagon chief also divulged in the interview that he is not currently in contact with his Chinese counterpart, who did not take a call from Austin when the U.S shot down a Chinese spy balloon in early February. The last time the two spoke was “a couple of months ago,” Austin said.
“I think it’s really, really important to make sure that we maintain lines of communication open. I think leaders need to be able to talk to each other to avoid misperceptions and manage crises,” Austin said. “And so this is really important. And so we hope that Minister Wei will have a change of heart and schedule that call.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 24, 2023
Skies over North America go quiet after 3 days of shootdowns, Austin says

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The spate of shootdowns followed the Feb. 4 downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast after it traversed North America for a week. The Biden administration’s decision to wait before shooting down that balloon touched off days of intense criticism from Republicans and Democrats, who claimed the delay left America vulnerable to China’s intelligence collection apparatus. Lawmakers have since called for more information from the White House after the weekend shootdowns.
On Tuesday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the U.S. does not believe the three unidentified objects shot down last weekend were from China or posed a national security threat.
“We don’t see anything that points right now to being part of [China’s] spy balloon program,” Kirby told reporters. It is also unlikely the objects were used in “intelligence collection against the United States of any kind — that’s the indication now,” he said.
The three objects, which were much smaller than the 200-foot-tall Chinese balloon, were likely “tied to some commercial or benign purpose,” Kirby added.
It’s not yet clear what this past weekend’s objects were, and the administration has offered scant details. There are also questions over the potential for the debris to be recovered. While the Chinese balloon landed in less than 50 feet of water close to the coast, the Alaska and Yukon objects landed in harsh Arctic terrain that is difficult and dangerous to access, and their small size may limit how much material actually remains. The situation is similar for the object that was downed over Lake Huron.
A statement from the U.S. Northern Command said recovery operations near South Carolina continue, and “crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure.”
Senators received another classified briefing from the administration on the incursions on Tuesday, but there has been little information offered publicly from that briefing.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 15, 2023