White House says a second ‘high altitude object’ shot down over Alaska

WASHINGTON — White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the Department of Defense shot down a “high altitude object” that was in Alaska’s airspace in the last 24 hours.

Kirby said the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.” As an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Joe Biden ordered the military to down the object, Kirby said.

Kirby declined to identify the object’s country of origin.

Kirby said the Biden administration does not know who owns the high altitude object, saying it’s unclear whether it’s state-owned or privately owned. He said the object fell within the United States’ territorial space and fell in the Arctic Ocean on the northern side of Alaska.

He said a recovery effort will be made to learn more about the object.

He said the United States will not reach out to China over this new object.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: White House says a second ‘high altitude object’ shot own over Alaska