House Intelligence Chair Says He Prefers ‘triggerhappy Approach With Unidentified Objects

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Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday he prefers how the United States has shot down unidentified objects in North American airspace in recent days rather than allowing them to transit the country.

A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over northern Canada on Saturday, marking the third time in a week that the US military has shot down objects in US airspace. An unidentified object was shot down by a US F-22 in Alaskan airspace on Friday, and a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by an F-22 off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend. - The end is over.

"I'd rather trigger it more easily than allow it, but we have to see if it's just the government trying to change the news," Turner, an Ohio Republican, told AFP of the Biden administration. An interview with CNN's Jack Tapper on State of the Union.

"What I think shows, which is probably more important to our political discussion here, is that we really need to state that we're going to protect our airspace. And then we have to invest," Turner added. “It shows us some of the problems and mistakes. We need to deal with this as soon as possible because we are now convinced that there is a threat.

There is currently no indication that the Chinese surveillance balloon has any connection to the unidentified objects, but it appears national security officials across the continent are on high alert. Airspace over Montana was briefly closed before reopening late Saturday after a radar anomaly prompted a plane to investigate before proceeding.

Turner said lawmakers were frustrated by the Biden administration's lack of timely reporting on Sunday.

“This is particularly embarrassing for this government. The Biden administration needs to stop reporting to Congress on TV and sit down and brief us,” he said. "I think there has to be more compromise between the administration and Congress."

Senior Biden officials clashed at public hearings and secret lawmakers' briefings on Capitol Hill last week as Congress demanded more information about why the suspected spy balloon was not launched sooner.

“It is certainly a recent recent development that China is doing it aggressively and with very sophisticated equipment to infiltrate other countries' airspace for explicit espionage purposes. I'm referring to the sheer size of these balloons and the technology used by China to spy on them to attack the United States. It's unprecedented," Turner said Sunday.