LAKE HURON — Efforts are now underway to recover an unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron this weekend.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin said Monday morning during a news conference that Lake Huron has been choppy, making recovery efforts of the unidentified object that was downed on Sunday difficult.
"I have no reason to believe this is a UFO … chances are this is just a normal, run-of-the-mill thing that we in the intelligence community know how to exploit," she said.
Governor Whitmer was asked about the object during a press conference Monday afternoon.
“We are still waiting on intelligence gathered, I know they are investigating the debris field from the object that was shot down over Lake Huron. As soon as we have information that I am at liberty to share, I will be happy to do that, but I’ve just shared all I know at this point,” said Whitmer.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden ordered the military strike amid ongoing security concerns.
It’s the fourth such interception since a suspected spy balloon from China traveled across the country last month.
Defense officials do not think that object posed any military threat to the U.S. and say they downed it out of an abundance of caution.
The Pentagon describes the object as octagonal with strings but nothing attached to it.
An F-16 took it out just as it crossed over the lake from the upper peninsula.
Officials say at 20,000 feet, it flew considerably lower than some of the other objects recently shot, adding that— at that altitude— it posed a risk to civilian aircraft.
That combined with the object’s proximity to sensitive Department of Defense sites when they first spotted it in Montana led to the takedown.
Michael McDaniel—a former Pentagon employee who now teaches at Cooley Law School -
Explains the U.S. adjusted its radar after it shot that suspected spy balloon, allowing officials to get a better read on what was in the sky.
“Once we start looking for those smaller objects, we certainly found them,” says Former Pentagon employee and Cooley Law School professor, Michael McDaniel. “And that's what's happened is they've returned the filter, making it more sensitive, so that they can find more objects coming in. This was done at the same time, not just changing the filters."
The military brought down two other objects over the weekend; one in Canada’s Yukon, the other off the northern coast of Alaska.
And in those cases, officials characterized the items as significantly smaller an flying lower than the suspected spy balloon—but think each was carrying something.
It’s unclear which country— if any— the three objects originated from.
Reports indicate the object likely drifted into Canadian waters and the coast guard will be out over the next few days to recover it.
