U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) said that he did not believe that the four unidentified flying objects (UFOs) shot down in North American airspace in recent days pose a serious threat to the United States. Instead, the senator emphasized the importance of securing our southern border.
On February 4, a U.S. Air Force fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. The balloon had already made its way over the continental United States.
Over the following week, the U.S. military took down three more airborne objects: Friday in Alaska, Saturday in Canada and Sunday over Lake Huron.
On Wednesday, Tuberville, who sits on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, told the press that the military was currently monitoring the situation but that he and his colleagues had yet to be informed about the nature of the more recent balloons.
“If they know what it is, they’re not telling us,” he said. “So, I don’t think they do.”
Nevertheless, Tuberville cast doubt on the objects’ threat to national security.
“[The first] balloon… should’ve never made it to the American borders,” he said. “It should’ve been brought down very early … [The latter balloons] are not very big. These are not very high. They could be weather related. Now we’re seeing these balloons simply because they’ve opened their radar up a little bit more. They’re able to pick up things a little bit easier that are closer to the ground.”
Tuberville said he hoped the balloon situation did not detract attention from the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the immigration issues at the southern border.
“To me, these balloons aren’t really a threat,” Tuberville declared. “What’s a threat is the several hundred or more Russians or Chinese coming across our Southern border weekly.”
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