Rep. Carson talks about unidentified objects shot down over North America

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — U.S. Rep. André Carson, an Indianapolis Democrat who is on the House Intelligence Committee, told I-Team 8 on Monday that the Pentagon is still working to determine exactly what objects were shot out of the skies of North America in recent days.

U.S. fighter pilots shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon on Feb. 4 after it floated across the country.

Six days later, pilots shot down a different object near Alaska.

Carson gave some of the reasoning for shooting it down. “The unidentified object was flying at about 40,000 feet, posed a reasonable threat to flight safety of civilian aircraft.”

A day after the object was shot down near Alaska, another object was shot down over northern Canada, followed by a four object shot down Sunday near Lake Huron.

Carson told I-Team 8 a lot of unknowns remain about where the objects came from. “We have no indication at this point of who owns the object and there are no affirmative indications of military threats to people on the ground.”

Carson said no confirmed connection has been made to the most recently shot down objects being related to the Chinese balloon, but it’s something the intelligence community is looking in to.
“If this object is in fact from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), it is certainly a provocative action, a provocation of sorts that we will have to deal with at the appropriate time.”

Carson told I-Team 8 the Defense Department and the rest of Congress are taking the situation seriously because they want to make sure there is no threat to national security. He didn’t say how long it would take for the government to release detailed information about the objects.

“I think we’ll hear more directly from the president once intelligence officials are able to examine the debris,” Carson said.

According to Carson, these objects will be the center of attention during his Intelligence Committee meetings this week.