‘Perhaps This Was an Overreaction?’ After Days of UFO Hysteria, Reporter Asks Kirby If U.S. Shot Down $12 Hobby Balloon

John Kirby was questioned on Friday about whether the federal government spent a fortune shooting down what was possibly just a $12 hobby balloon.

The first flying object taken down was identified by DOD as a Chinese spy balloon which was “being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites” in the United States. It was destroyed off the east coast after passing all the way across the country. The three remaining objects shot down have not been fully identified to the public.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade told Aviation Weekly that one of the recent balloons ordered to be shot down may be theirs. The group lost track of their balloon on February 11 near Alaska. Just days later, an object floating over Canada’s Yukon Territory was shot down by NORAD.

“[With] an anecdote like this, does it make any sort of reconsideration of perhaps this was an overreaction at any point over the past week?” a reporter asked the White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at a Friday press conference on the balloon report.

“I’d ask you just for a second to put yourself in his shoes,” Kirby said, referring to President Joe Biden.

Kirby continued by painting the scenario for Biden:

“We don’t know who owns them or what their purpose is and they’re flying sovereign U.S. airspace. They’re also at altitudes that could affect the safety of civilian air traffic and on the flight path and the prevailing winds, potentially moving over sensitive military sites and the military leaders come to you and they say, ‘Mr. President, we don’t know what these are and we’re concerned about what they could be and about where they could be going and what their purpose might be and we recommend that you take these down in the interest of the safety and security of the American people.”

Even if the balloon turns out to be a $12 device from civilians, Kirby said the president has no regrets giving the order.

“The president acted on that recommendation because he takes so seriously his responsibilities to protect this country, our secrets, our interests,, and our people. So the short answer to your question is absolutely not,” he said.

Kirby did claim there would be stricter “parameters” going forward for determining whether a flying object poses a enough of a threat to be shot down.

Watch above via CNN.