On February 4, the US military shot down a Chinese “spy balloon” which was claimed by Chinese officials to just be a weather balloon. On February 10 and 11, two more unidentified flying objects were shot down. On February 12, another UFO was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan. The question is, are these actions by the US military necessary to protect the privacy and safety of its citizens or is the US military being over zealous?
According to CNN author Peter Burgen, “the number of UFO sightings significantly increased between March 2021 and August 2022, during which time 247 new sightings were reported, mostly by US Navy and Air Force pilots and personnel. That’s almost double the 144 UFO sightings reported in the 17-year period between 2004 to 2021.” Although the amount of UFOs is increasing dramatically, there is still no clear evidence that the increased UFOs sightings are linked to any military operation by another country or any threat to US national security. General Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command reported the US military had no new information about the three objects downed this weekend as opposed to the clearly identified Chinese balloon shot down on February 4. Despite having no real evidence of a particular reason behind the increased sightings of UFOs, the Pentagon created a new entity called the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office to investigate all credible UFO sightings by both the US military and the intelligence community.
In addition, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner said on February 12 that he preferred “them to be trigger-happy than to be permissive” when referring to the US military’s use of force without any knowledge of a known threat. And on Thursday February 16, President Joe Biden reported that the three unidentified flying objects shot down were “most likely” balloons owned by private companies, not foreign intelligence agencies.
It seems like there is no conclusive evidence that the UFOs can be dismissed as non-threatening, but are they worth the attention and the money spent on $400K missiles to shoot them down?
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9 comments:
Determining whether the US military's efforts to shoot down unidentified flying objects (UFOs) were necessary or excessive is undoubtedly an interesting topic to consider. There is no conclusive proof connecting the sightings to any military activity by another country or any threat to US national security, despite the fact that the number of UFO sightings has sharply increased. However, it appears that the US military does not take any chances with national security if they are taking these sightings seriously and investing in a new organization, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, to look into credible UFO sightings by both the US military and the intelligence community.
I think the U.S. was right to take down the Chinese balloons, as it was in violation of the U.S.'s sovereignty. China has been calling the use of missiles necessary for a balloon claimed to track weather information, while U.S. officials have said that the balloon and others around the world have the ability to capture information and surveillance over strategic locations like military bases. Regardless of the purpose of the balloon, it has soured already worsening conditions between the U.S. and China. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken postponing his trip to Beijing. It's also unclear with the increased number of UFO sightings its people and news sources capitalizing on current events or if there are actually more UFOs in American airspace. If any of these balloons are recovered we will see their true purpose and hopefully American and Chinese relations are able to improve with a mutual understanding that violations of American airspace will not be tolerated.
The overabundance of high-altitude balloons are not UFO's harboring aliens contrary to popular belief(though eyewitness claim sightings for "spy balloons" in Missouri just this month). Although the "UFO" sighting turned out to be a weather balloon, I'm with Christien-- regardless of the differences in belief of what the weather balloon does, I believe it was right for the U.S. to identify what the unknown flying object was. Whether or not the U.S. shoots down the balloons is simply a matter of national security-- as mentioned previously, in case of worsening relations between the U.S. and China, I believe that is it necessary to investigate the witness accounts for the balloons since it would ensure American citizens of their country's security.
It is difficult to definitively state whether there have been more UFO’s this year or not than previously. It could be possible that the increased availability of technology and social media platforms has led to more reports of UFO sightings being shared and documented. Though the abrupt increase that is happening this year is startling. I also think it is important to note that a UFO sighting does not necessarily mean an extraterrestrial or hostile attack. In fact, the vast majority of reported UFO sightings can be explained by natural phenomena or man-made objects such as drones or aircraft. I think that we should continue to carry skepticism about the possibility of encountering intelligent life from another planet. I think that it is more probable that these sightings have other explanations.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
Adding on to what Nick said, the increase of UFO reports may be a result of a higher level of understanding and acknowledgement of UFOs across the general public. Previously, UFOs were treated as trivial and insignificant by both the general public and academics alike. I think that the stigma towards UFO sightings may have died down because the Pentagon has created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and is treating UFOs as an actual threat to the United States. It's possible that there is a drastic increase of UFOs in the US. However, the lack of stigma towards UFO sightings, use of social media, and greater awareness of what UFOs are may be a better explanation for the increase of UFO sightings.
As it is hard to say, I do stand to believe that the US was mostly in the right for wanting to identify anything in the sky. The so called "UFOs" are costly to shoot down as you mentioned but although this is the case, the US should do whatever it takes to secure the safety of its citizens. Security is on a lot of peoples' minds and without it, people would have to fear about spys coming from third world countries. Who knows, that balloon could have been carrying any sort of weapon to bring terror (although that is unlikely). Following up on what Julia stated, China and the US do not have the best relation and with increased competition, it is completely fine for the US to investigate anything out of their realm and make sure that no info is taken or any damage is inflicted. In my opinion, the security of US citizens should be America's top priority.
This could clearly demonstrate the relationship between two countries. The Chinese government accuses of the American government for shooting down its property. It is also interesting to see how the two countries are when faced with international affairs like this. The U.S openly reports about it to its citizens while the Chinese people have no idea this happened. I believe that the Chinese government could totally have informed the U.S about the balloon before it was taken down using coercion. And the U.S could have maybe contacted the Chinese government before taking the action.
I agree with Anna, that this situation is a solid representation of the relationship between both nations. There is a lot of tension and a lack of communication which is leading to the inefficiency, like spending so much to shoot down these balloons.
However, doesn't China already have satellites over the US, and vice versa? I don't think the ability to surveil other nations from the sky is that new, but I could be wrong. I think one of the main reasons that the US is taking the sky balloons so seriously is because they are a visible threat and the US wants to appear politically strong.
The new discovery that balloons could potentially be spying on the U.S. will cause the military to rethink how they view these objects. Coming up with a strategy to deal with balloons which may be carrying spy gear from another nation is probably easier said than done, as on any given day there are thousands of balloons in the sky for a variety of reasons. Monitoring the weather is a very common use of balloons and shooting down every one of them, which is not identified quickly would not only be impractical, but also very expensive given the cost of one missile. It is probably impossible for the military to track all of these and identify them, so they will need to come up with some process to address this issue. The issue of tracking aside, all nations spy on each other, and if you violate someone’s airspace, your aircraft can get shot down, which was the case with the spy balloon. The US had every right to do that, and China would have done the same.
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