Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a ranking member of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, said Sunday that he has «real concerns» about the Biden administration’s transparency about unidentified objects that have been shot down. in the last days.
In an interview on NBC News’ «Meet the Press» Sunday, Himes, who is part of the «Gang of Eight,» the top leaders of congressional intelligence committees, said those lawmakers received «very extensive information » about the Chinese spy balloon. which was shot down over the water last week.
Himes expressed concern that the administration has been less forthcoming about the unidentified objects shot down over Alaskan and Canadian airspace on Friday and Saturday, respectively, though he acknowledged that information may be sparse.
«Part of the problem is that the second and third objects were shot down in very remote areas. So I guess there isn’t a lot of information to share yet,» he said.
«The only thing I see as concerning … is the massive speculation about alien invasions and further Chinese or Russian actions,» Himes said, adding that the «absence of information» will make people anxious.
«So I hope the administration has a lot more information for all of us about what’s going on,» Himes said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said Sunday that the United States believes the unidentified objects shot down over Alaskan and Canadian airspace were balloons smaller than the size of the Chinese spy balloon shot down on February 4.
Schumer said in an interview on ABC’s «This Week» that national security adviser Jake Sullivan informed him Saturday night hours after the unidentified object in Canadian airspace was shot down. Asked if the two objects that were shot down in recent days were balloons, Schumer said: «They think so, but much smaller than the first one.»
On «Meet the Press,» Himes said he hasn’t been briefed on the matter yet when asked if he thinks the administration isn’t communicating or if it’s a situation where they don’t have enough information.
“I can’t really answer that question because I haven’t been informed,” Himes said. “I received a very detailed report on the first Chinese balloon, and I think the decision-making process there was very good. Now we have something that we are going to exploit for intelligence. I think the decision-making was good.»
Himes noted that people had not heard of the Chinese spy balloon until it was seen flying over Montana earlier this month. NBC News first broke the news that the US was monitoring the high-altitude surveillance device as it hovered over the US for days.
«There may be reasons for that, in the absence of information, people will fill that void with anxiety and other things,» Himes said. «So I wish the administration would be a little quicker to tell us everything they know.»
The lawmakers’ comments come a day after authorities confirmed that a US warplane had shot down an unidentified object in the skies over Canada on the orders of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The decision was made in consultation with President Joe Biden, and White House and Pentagon officials confirmed Saturday.
The downing of the object was the third in North America this month.
On Friday, the US military shot down a «high-altitude object» flying over Alaskan airspace and Arctic waters. During a briefing at the White House that day, National Security Council official John Kirby said the United States does not know who owns the object and refused to call it a balloon, like the one that supposedly belonged to the Chinese government and which was shot down over the Carolina. coast by the US military earlier this month.