White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sparked a furious backlash as she failed to answer why the US was authorised to shoot down a UFO flying over Canada. The United States and Canada shot down a combined four unidentified flying objects crossing into their airspace over the past week, an exponential increase which ignited concerns about heightened surveillance monitoring military and private activities across North America. Jean-Pierre struggled to address the probe, fumbling with her words as she explained the concept of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
As she appeared on MSNBC Sunday, presenter Jonathan Capehart asked: “Why is the American military shooting something out of the sky over Canada?”
Jean-Pierre fumbled through the explanation, noting the US had a long-standing collaboration arrangement with Canada through NORAD.
She said: “Because it’s part of NORAD. NORAD is part of a, like, part of a…it’s…what you call? A coalition, a consortium. The pact.
“So that’s why we were able to do it. Again, we didn’t do it on our own, we did it, clearly, in step with Canadia – Canada.”
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Jean-Pierre previously Sid: “Out of an abundance of caution, and by the recommendation by the military for President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau, an unauthorised, unmanned object was taken down in North American airspace.
“What happened is it had been monitored by NORAD over the past 24 or more hours and what the President decided to do, he authorised an F-22 to take it down. It came down in Canadian territory, it came down in conjunction with Canada.”
But the Press Secretary’s performance was met with criticism, with X Strategies senior digital strategist Greg Price branding Jean-Pierre as “incompetent” for failing to provide an answer.
Price wrote on Twitter: “Lmfao she is literally the most incompetent Press Secretary that has ever existed.”
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NORAD chief General Glen VanHerck said that part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following a spy balloon from China that emerged over US airspace in late January.
VanHerck added that the US adjusted its radar so it could track slower objects.
He said: “With some adjustments, we’ve been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now and that’s why I think you’re seeing these, plus there’s a heightened alert to look for this information.”
Fighter jets last week also shot down objects over Canada and Alaska despite Pentagon officials insisting they posed no security threats.
They however argued that so little was known about them that Pentagon officials were ruling nothing out — not even UFOs.
Melissa Dalton, assistant defence secretary for homeland defence, said: “We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase.”
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