Aliens? Senior U.S. general says not ruling out anything yet
'I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything'
After a string of shoot-downs of unidentified objects, the U.S. Air Force general in charge of North American airspace indicated on Sunday that he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation just yet, deferring to American intelligence specialists.
When asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything," Reuters reported.
"At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it," said VanHerck, head of U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command.
His comments came during a Pentagon briefing on Sunday after a U.S. F-16 fighter jet shot down another unidentified object, this time an octagonal-shaped object over Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border.
These incidents follow the downing of a so-called Chinese "spy balloon" - allegedly being used for surveillance - on February 4 that put the U.S. air defenses on high alert. However, another U.S. defense official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity that the military hadn't any no evidence suggesting any of the objects in question were of extraterrestrial origin.
Yet, VanHerck continued: "We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason."