Alien can be anyone not from the USA, e.g.illegal alien. The military may just be careful of their language. Yes, some of these objects/balloons may be foreign.
This whole debacle is revealing the chasm between the Pentagon and the White House. At the moment, the Kagan/Nuland/Blinken/Sullivan/Biden stronghold is refusing to listen to the Military advisors, and demanding the shooting down of these very public balloons, which is farcical. the whole world is laughing. They did not historically shoot down foreign satellites traversing the USA, after all, and these balloons are very high up, almost in the stratosphere. Plus, shooting down such weather or surveillance balloons could stir up tensions with said countries. Some of the balloons may even be from the US military, as well. Why go there?
Obviously, the WH wants this, as a jolly distraction - look at all the threads and articles it is generating! The whole space aliens thing is just icing on the cake. It is easy to assume that any military brass is in agreement with the shooting down policy. I believe we see reluctance and shifty behavior from these people because they are uncomfortable about it, and would rather that the WH shut up about it already. But the cat is out of the bag now, so they have to make awkward public appearances.
Alien can be anyone not from the USA, e.g.illegal alien. The military may just be careful of their language. Yes, some of these balloons may be foreign.
This whole debacle is revealing the chasm between the Pentagon and the White House. At the moment, the Kagan/Nuland/Blinken/Sullivan/Biden stronghold is refusing to listen to the Military advisors, and demanding the shooting down of these very public balloons, which is farcical. the whole world is laughing. They did not historically shoot down foreign satellites traversing the USA, after all, and these balloons are very high up, almost in the stratosphere. Plus, shooting down such weather or surveillance balloons could stir up tensions with said countries. Some of the balloons may even be from the US military, as well. Why go there?
Obviously, the WH wants this, as a jolly distraction - look at all the threads and articles it is generating! The whole space aliens thing is just icing on the cake. It is easy to assume that any military brass is in agreement with the shooting down policy. I believe we see reluctance and shifty behavior from these people because they are uncomfortable about it, and would rather that the WH shut up about it already. But the cat is out of the bag now, so they have to make awkward public appearances.