1:42 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023
Biden administration under pressure from lawmakers to publicly address unidentified objects
From CNN's Jeremy Diamond, Phil Mattingly and Maegan Vazquez
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks about the country's debt ceiling outside his office at the Capitol on February 6 in Washington, DC.
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Calls on Capitol Hill for President Joe Biden to publicly address the downing of
a series of unidentified objects, as well as the Chinese spy balloon, have been mounting.
Officials from the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community have briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill on the initial Chinese spy balloon. Republicans on Capitol Hill have criticized Biden for not approving the military to down the first balloon quickly enough, letting it sail eastward for days.
But in the classified congressional briefings, administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China. The officials also told lawmakers the balloon was not first shot down when it entered Alaskan airspace because the waters there are cold and deep, making it less likely they could have recovered the balloon.
After being briefed last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it was wrong for the Biden administration to wait to shoot down the initial balloon
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn similarly told reporters on Wednesday that he believes the administration needs to be more transparent about the objects shot down in order to stop rampant speculation.
“It’s amazing what the human mind can imagine when confronted with the unknown, and I think people are conjuring up all sorts of imaginary and horrifying scenarios that a little transparency would dispel," he said.
Administration response: The White House has attempted to dispel the suggestion that Biden’s decisions to quickly take down three high-altitude objects between Friday and Sunday were the result of political pressure.
Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the Pentagon is not aware of any additional unidentified objects appearing in US airspace since the last one was shot down on Sunday.