In US political speak, they’re fond of the phrase “an abundance of caution”.
It translates into a week of US Top Guns taking to the skies and taking out airborne objects that, frankly, could be anything.
They don’t know – but a week of national security whiplash has been triggered by what they say they do know, that object number one was a Chinese spy balloon.
In a Sunday night news briefing, the US Department of Defence (DoD) spoke of a heightened state of alert.
It says it has been more closely scrutinising US airspace and that radar filters have been tweaked to pick out smaller objects in the sky.
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What are spy balloons?
We are told that recent objects posed no military threat and the DoD acknowledged that companies and organisations operate objects at altitude for research purposes.
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So how much longer can this “shoot first” policy continue?
Clearly, it will depend on debris collection and analysis.
There will come a point when the US knows what it’s dealing with and takes a considered view – in the meantime, it’s taking no chances.
In closing Sunday’s briefing, DoD top brass opened a door – to headline writers and the rest.
When asked during that briefing if the airborne objects could be extra-terrestrials, US Air Force General Glen VanHerck replied: “I haven’t ruled out anything.”
The truth is out there, even if it’s not here yet.
