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U.S. Shoots Down High-Altitude Object Over Alaska [1]

['Helene Cooper', 'Julian E. Barnes', 'Edward Wong']

Date: 2023-02-10  

Michael P. Mulroy, a former Pentagon official, said that shooting the object down over Alaska was the right action.

“If it was another Chinese spy balloon, that indicates that China is either incompetent in operating these platforms or potentially deliberately provoking the U.S.,” Mr. Mulroy said. “It is also important for the U.S. and China to maintain direct communications during times like this. Especially between the militaries.”

U.S. officials said Friday evening that they had no evidence that the object over Alaska had come from China. General Ryder said it was traveling northeast when Northern Command began tracking it. But he would not speculate on its provenance. He said the Pentagon had made no effort to contact China since Beijing rebuffed a phone call from Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III last week.

The spy balloon episode last week has increased U.S.-China tensions at a time when the relationship between the two nations is at one of the lowest points in decades. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken canceled a trip last weekend to Beijing, where he had been expected to meet with President Xi Jinping, after the Pentagon told reporters about the balloon.

Pentagon officials said the spy balloon had posed no threat, and allowing it to stay in the air longer gave the U.S. military time to study it, including having U-2 spy planes take high-resolution images of its equipment.

During internal deliberations, some U.S. officials pressed for options to shoot down the balloon earlier. Officials also reviewed whether the military could use a giant net or hook to bring down the balloon.

U.S. officials say the spy balloon was part of a fleet directed by the Chinese military that has flown over more than 40 countries on five continents in recent years. The balloons are made by one or more civilian-run companies that officially sell products to the military, officials said, though the Biden administration has not publicly identified the company that made the downed balloon.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/politics/unidentified-object-shot-down-alaska.html

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