The U.S. military's response to the three unidentified objects flying over the U.S. was "laughable," said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
"The first balloon should have been shot down," Burchett told Newsmax's "Saturday Report."
"The last is laughable. The world is just laughing at us. It was just a political knee jerk on the others. For us to not know what these things are is completely ridiculous," he added.
A U.S. fighter jet shot down an "unidentified object" over Lake Huron on Feb. 12 on orders from President Joe Biden, but it missed with its first missile. The day before, the Air Force shot down an object flying in the vicinity of Canada's Yukon Territory that might prove to be a $12 hobby balloon — a group in Northern Illinois was reported by The Guardian as saying that one of its pico balloons had gone "missing in action" around the same time.
The sidewinder missiles cost at least $400,000.
"For us to not know what's what these things are is completely ridiculous. And when a satellite can tell you the head of a dime, the date on it, who's sitting on the pitcher's mound at Yankee Stadium, I mean ... we ought to be able to tell what these things are.
"Military intelligence is a whole lot like rational ethics. I wonder if it exists," he added.
The Pentagon officials said they were still trying to determine what exactly the objects were and said they had considered using the jets' guns instead of missiles, but it proved to be too difficult. They drew a strong distinction between the three shot down last weekend and the spy balloon from China.
The extraordinary air defense activity began in late January, when a white orb the officials said was from China appeared over the U.S. and hovered above the nation for days before fighter jets downed it off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That event played out over livestream. Many Americans have been captivated by the drama playing out in the skies as fighter jets scramble to shoot down objects.
Burchett is calling for House hearings to get to the bottom of the Pentagon's decision making.
Why did Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "tell the president no, in fact, he would not shoot those down — the first one down; and then, of course, they let it traverse our entire continental United States?
"They could have dropped it in Montana, which has little population. They dropped it off the coast of Myrtle Beach. It's more likely to hit somebody in a tie-dyed T-shirt with a mullet on a shrimp boat then it was to hit anybody in Montana.
"This whole thing is laughable. And our military telling our president, 'No, in fact, we will not shoot it down,' and then we shoot it down in these areas where we can't get to? The whole thing is just a mystery to us, and we need to get to the bottom of it."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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