Fox News Reporter Asks If Quick Shoot Down of Second Object Is Evidence Pentagon ‘Regrets’ Not Shooting Down Spy Balloon Earlier

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich grilled National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby at a Friday press briefing over news an object had been shot down over Alaskan airspace.

Kirby confirmed during a White House press briefing that the object had been shot down not long after entering Alaskan airspace. He said it posed a “reasonable” threat, but it was much smaller than the recent suspected Chinese spy balloon that transited the continental U.S. last week. Kirby also claimed the new object did not have the maneuverability of the balloon.

Heinrich honed in on the timing difference in shooting down the objects, the first being taken down days after President Joe Biden first asked the military to take it down. Biden and the military decided to wait until it was over the ocean to avoid casualties on the ground. The reporter asked if the quick takedown of the latest object showed the Pentagon “regretted” the handling of the Chinese surveillance balloon.

“So is it a fair takeaway then that the Pentagon regrets not taking down the first balloon before it crossed the entire U.S.?” she asked.

“I’m not going to speak for the Pentagon. I can tell you that the president doesn’t regret the way that we handled the first balloon. That time — first of all, apples and oranges here in terms of size,” Kirby said.

The debris from the device shot down over Alaska will be “much, much smaller,” he added. Kirby said they do not know who the second object belongs to.

Heinrich pushed further, asking how Biden could say these devices did not pose a “major breach” in national security. According to Kirby, the Pentagon knew the “basic flight path” of the new device and took precautions against any military sites being surveilled.

“We were able to take steps at sensitive military sites that we believed would be along the flight path to significantly curtail any intelligence ability that the Chinese could get from the balloon,” he said.

Watch above via Fox News.

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