President Joe Biden is set to deliver his most substantial account Thursday of U.S. efforts to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of high-stakes aerial drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting much of the country.
The president's 2 p.m. White House remarks come after he directed National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an “interagency team” to review U.S. procedures after the downing of the China balloon, as well as three other objects that the U.S. now believes are most likely “benign” objects. The downing of the Chinese surveillance craft was the first known peacetime shootdown of an unauthorized object in U.S. airspace — a feat repeated three times a week later.
