WASHINGTON – Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement in response to reports the U.S. had shot down an object near Alaska:

“I appreciate the Biden Administration learning from its prior inaction and acting quickly to address this latest airspace incursion. I look forward to further updates about this incident,” Wicker said. “However, I still have many outstanding questions regarding last week’s incident. Today’s decisive action is a reminder that it is even more important that we understand fully why the first balloon was allowed to traverse the entirety of our sovereign airspace uncontested.”

Background: 

• On February 8, Senator Wicker and Senator Rubio sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines requesting more information on the severely delayed response to the previous balloon incursion. 
• The letter notes that it took the Biden administration four whole days – from Gen. VanHerck’s first notification of the balloon on January 28 until President Biden’s order to shoot down the balloon on February 1 – to decide on a course of action, which meant allowing the balloon to sail from the Aleutian Islands the in Pacific to South Carolina’s Atlantic coast. 
• The Biden administration’s response to the latest balloon suggests that its response has improved considerably. 
• Senator Wicker looks forward to further updates on the source of the latest balloon and its capabilities, so he can work with his Senate Armed Services Committee colleagues to ensure that the Department of Defense is postured to counter this emerging threat.