White House: No indication objects were part of China spy program

The White House on Tuesday said that they don’t have an indication that the three objects shot down by the U.S. military over the weekend were part of China’s spy program, noting though the difficulties with recovering the debris.

“While we can’t definitively say, again without analyzing the debris, what these objects were, thus far — and I caveat that by saying thus far — we haven’t seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the [China’s] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts,” national security spokesman John Kirby said.

Officials have not been able to analyze the debris because getting access to them has been difficult, considering the tough conditions where they landed when they were shot down.

When asked if there’s a possibility that the debris may never be recovered, Kirby said, “I think we’re taking this day by day and doing the best we can to try to locate the debris and then develop a plan to recover it.”

Kirby on Monday had said that the uncertainly of the surveillance capabilities of the three objects in U.S. airspace led to President Biden’s orders for the military to shoot them down. The objects were shot down by the U.S. military roughly one week after the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina. 

The first object was shot down on Friday off the northern coast of Alaska, the second was shot down on Saturday over frozen territory in northern Canada, and the third was shot down on Sunday over Lake Huron.

Kirby stressed that the debris “would certainly be of immense value” in terms of identifying the objects and figuring out where they came from. 

It’s a “leading explanation” that the three objects were balloons tied to a benign or commercial entity, Kirby said. But, he added that no entity or individual has come forward to claim them. Officials have ruled out that they came from the U.S. government.

Kirby warned that “it could be some time before we locate the recovered debris” and outlined that Lake Huron, where the object on Sunday landed when it was shot down, is a deep lake. He also said that there are tough weather conditions in the three locations where the objects fell.