Flying objects were shot down as a precaution to protect commercial flights: NSC official

During a nine-day period, United States fighter jets have shot down four flying objects — the first of which has often been described as a "Chinese spy balloon." Retired U.S. Navy Adm. John F. Kirby, now coordinator of strategic communications for the National Security Council (NSC), discussed these objects during a Monday morning, February 13 appearance on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." And he pointed out that they don’t necessarily have to be something "nefarious."

Kirby told hosts Joe Scarborough (a former GOP congressman and outspoken Never Trump conservative) and Mika Brzezinski, "We are going to continue to share as much information with the American people as we can as we learn more about these objects. The truth is that we haven’t been able to gain access to the three that were shot down Friday, Saturday and yesterday — in large part, because of the weather conditions."

Scarborough asked the NSC official if the last three objects could be "commercial in nature," and Kirby responded, "Absolutely, Joe. There could be completely benign and totally explainable reasons for why these objects are flying around up there. They certainly don’t have to be nefarious at all. There are corporate entities that operate these kinds of things. There are academic research institutions that do this sort of thing. We just don’t know. But as soon as we find out…. we’ll absolutely share what we can."

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Scarborough, however, asked Kirby if these objects could pose any type of danger to airplanes.

Kirby replied, "That was one of the reasons why we took these actions over the last three days, Joe: because of the altitude (at which) these things were flying — and the size, which was very, very small compared to the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down."

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Watch the interview below or at this link.

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