The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial board on Sunday accused the Biden administration of a lack of transparency regarding the slew of unidentified objects shot down across the U.S. in recent days.
President Joe Biden ordered a U.S. F-16 fighter jet to shoot down a flying object Sunday afternoon over Lake Huron. The move was the latest in a series of similar downings that began after Biden faced criticism for waiting several days to order the destruction of a Chinese spy balloon that floated across the continental United States.
“As we write this on Sunday, the chief Administration spokesman seems to be Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is about the last guy you’d send out to reassure anyone,” the editorial board wrote.
Schumer dismissed concerns Sunday about the time it took to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon, arguing the U.S. was able to gather intelligence on China by letting it remain in the air.
“The first balloon, there was a much different rationale which I think was the appropriate rationale,” Schumer said. “We got enormous intelligence information from surveilling the balloon as it went over the United States.”
“The military operations in North America have Americans concerned, all the more so because the Administration has been both tight-lipped and dissembling,” the editorial board wrote. “It didn’t disclose the presence of the first balloon until civilians spotted it over Montana. Then it claimed it posed no threat, only to shoot it down after political criticism.” (RELATED: CNN Host Presses Dem On Whether Biden Is Being ‘Forthcoming’ About Objects Being Shot Down)
“The administration also whispered to its media mouthpieces that the Trump Administration had tolerated such balloon intrusions in U.S. airspace, only to correct that story after Trump officials denied any such knowledge.”
The board then demanded the Biden administration be more forthcoming about the objects being shot down.
“Are we seeing these objects now only because we are suddenly looking for them? Are they sent by foreign actors, or someone else? Do they pose a threat, and we don’t mean only to civilian air traffic? What the hell is going on up there, Mr. President?”
MYRTLE BEACH, SC – FEBRUARY 05: Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on February 5, 2023 off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) leader Gen. Glen VanHerck said Sunday that heightened awareness of potential airborne threats could be the reason for the increased number of flying objects identified in U.S. airspace.