Everyone needs to get a grip regarding the ‘spy balloons’ saga

It looked like something out of a Hollywood sci-fi flick: the White House press secretary assuring a roomful of reporters that there is “no indication of aliens.” Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had to make that startling pronouncement this week because a top general had earlier declined to rule out the possibility that extraterrestrials are behind a string of mysterious objects the U.S. military has shot out of the sky lately.

Everyone needs to get a grip. The sudden appearance of these objects doesn’t mean some global (or otherworldly) power is suddenly swarming America. It’s more likely the military is seeing them now because it’s looking for them in the wake of the incursion by the Chinese spy balloon earlier this month. The most recent ones could yet turn out to be benign. Should more of them appear, President Joe Biden should carefully consider whether this shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later approach is really the best one — and he should make sure it’s not just a knee-jerk reaction to predictable Republican bluster.

The strange saga began at the end of January, when a 200-foot balloon carrying a large equipment array traversed from Alaska to the northwestern U.S. to the east coast over eight days. The U.S. military shot the object down off the South Carolina coast Feb. 4. While the Chinese government continues to claim, improbably, that it was a scientific balloon that blew off course, the recovered equipment indicates it was designed for spying.

Then, over three days starting last Friday, the U.S. shot down three additional flying objects over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron. Those vessels remain more mysterious than the first one. Recovery operations were still underway this week, hampered by rough terrain and water.

There is a not-unreasonable explanation for the differing responses to the first and subsequent incidents: The Chinese balloon was floating far above U.S. air lanes and was large enough that an overland shootdown could have endangered lives. The three subsequent crafts are described as much smaller, and were positioned low enough to pose hazards to commercial flights.

That’s all well and good, but there is something unnerving about a seemingly sudden policy of just immediately firing missiles at mysterious objects, especially since none of the last three showed evidence of spy capabilities. Suppose one of them had carried a chemical or biological agent.

Biden deserves the benefit of the doubt in his handling of the issue, and his announcement of a task force to study all these incidents is valid. But he must ensure his actions are based on rational military and technological advice, and not the GOP’s heckling campaign — which would have happened no matter what actions he took. A time of potential threats flying overhead is no time to indulge those who are just trying to score political points.

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board