The Biden administration shot down speculation there might be an alien element to the recent takedown of objects in American airspace.
"There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday's daily press briefing. "It was important for us to say that from here, because we've been hearing a lot about it."
One week after shooting down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, the U.S. military shot down three aerial objects in separate incidents.
Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of the Pentagon's Northern Command, stoked speculation Sunday when he responded to a question about an extraterrestrial connection to the objects that were shot down.
"I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out," he said. "I haven't ruled out anything at this point."
The White House has provided few details about the three objects taken down over the weekend, partly because the weather and the method they were taken down have made recovery difficult.
The military shot down an object flying at 40,000 feet over Alaskan airspace Friday after determining it was a "reasonable threat" to the civilian air traffic.
Another unknown object was taken down over northern Canada on Saturday and a third octagonal-shaped object, which was first spotted over Montana, was shot down over Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border on Sunday, Reuters reported.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday, while officials are trying to learn more about the objects, it is possible they could be perfectly legitimate and connected to a research institute or private company.
Kirby said the three objects shot down over the weekend differed from the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down near the coast of South Carolina in that they were flying at lower altitudes and were markedly smaller than the confirmed Beijing balloon.
The aerial incidents come amid a push by the Pentagon in recent years to investigate military sightings of UFOs, now rebranded by the government as "unidentified aerial phenomena," or UAPs.
Reuters reported senior military leaders have said there are hundreds of documented reports being investigated of unidentified objects in space, the sky or underwater.
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