Chinese Spy Balloon

US Officials Identify Mystery Objects Shot Down Over Alaska, Canada

Over the weekend, two mystery objects hovering over Alaska and Canada were blown out of the sky. And now, it appears we have answers. Sorry, it’s not aliens.

According to ABC, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that these two recent objects were balloons. Yes, they are suspected to be of the same origin as the one that captivated America during its trek across the country last week.

While there’s seemingly no need to get worked up over an impending alien threat, the balloon saga raises its own concerns. What is this “wild” balloon program? What kind of information is it gathering? And why are we just now finding out about it?

Schumer echoed the need to learn more during a conversation with This Week‘s George Stephanopoulos.

“I think our military, our intelligence is doing a great job, present and future. I feel a lot of confidence in what they are doing. But why as far back as the Trump administration did no one know about this?”

Why Wasn’t the First Balloon Shot Down Sooner?

Much ado has been made about the decision to allow the balloon that made headlines last week to continue all the way across the US. The Pentagon attributed the craft to China and believes it was, in fact, being used for surveillance.

It seems the delay in acting on that initial balloon (before it was eventually shot down over the waters off South Carolina) was intentional. At least, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“We got an enormous intelligence information from surveilling the balloon as it went over the United States,” Schumer said on This Week.

The administration apparently saw more value in allowing the balloon to continue, in the hopes that they’d better understand its ultimate goal. That, plus further understanding its capabilities by shooting it down over the water. Lastly, it minimized the risk of causing damage to civilians upon crashing to the ground.

Of course, China claimed it was simply a weather balloon on a meteorological research mission. Whatever the case may be, whoever’s responsible, it doesn’t appear that any of the flying objects came from another world.