The unidentified object shot down over Yukon Saturday might “play into an intelligence long game,” but at the moment it appears completely non-threatening in the military sense, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD’s former deputy commander.
In an interview for The West Block with Mercedes Stephenson, Retired Gen. Thomas Lawson said that the thing flying over Canadian airspace was “more of a collection object” and didn’t carry a payload “that threatens life or limb.”
“That might play into an intelligence long game, but really very little threat in a traditional military sense,” said Lawson. “It becomes part of this barrage of balloons that is coming from somewhere west of here.”
However, Lawson pointed that intelligence agencies and the military, “know lots of things that the average civilian doesn’t know in Canada or the United States” and will carefully assess the object.
“As long as our elected officials are rooting through this data before and afterwards, they’ll help make decisions to our best benefit and in a lot of cases, some of this stuff should remain secret.”
On Saturday afternoon, Global News published an exclusive report at 3:36 PM ET that officials with the continental defence alliance were monitoring an object that could be another potential spy balloon — followed by confirmation from NORAD.
Within minutes of the report — at 3:41 p.m. ET — it was ordered to be shot down by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for violating Canadian airspace.
According to Lawson, shooting down an airborne object like that may seem easy but ‘it’s not.’
“It’s quite an intricate process and it’s complicated by the fact that most of the weaponry that’s carried by our fighters is optimized for fast-moving things,” Lawson said.
During a press conference in Yukon on Sunday, Trudeau said that although there’s “still much to know about” the unidentified object, it posed a “reasonable threat” to civilian aircraft and was deemed as a potential threat to the safety of Canadians.
According to Lawson, whether or not an object is a threat is determined by NORAD headquarters and decision-makers. Then, elected officials and decision-makers will be notified and brought into the process.
“So, this all would have been taking place yesterday, ahead of the shoot-down yesterday afternoon,” said Lawson.
The unidentified object was shot down by an American F-22 and has promoted questions about why one of the Canadian jets in the air did not take it down.
According to Lawson, the fact that an American jet shot it down actually represents the significance of the strength of the NORAD agreement.
NORAD, a U.S. and Canada bi-national organization, has been around since the Cold War. It is designed to prevent air attacks against North America and safeguard the sovereign airspaces of the U.S. and Canada, according to NORAD‘s website.
“Let’s not see territory as Canadian or American,” said Lawson. “Let’s really hone the decision process so we don’t have to worry about whose aircraft is used, whose missiles are used and all of that still stands today in 2023.”
Trudeau said Sunday recovery teams are on the ground looking to find and analyze the object. He added that the government would inform Canadians when more information is available.
According to the White House, the object downed over Yukon did not resemble the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina last week.
In an email to Global News sent Sunday, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said the airborne objects over Canada and Alaska “did not closely resemble” each other and were “much smaller” than the Chinese spy balloon.
“We will not definitively characterize them until we can recover the debris, which we are working on,” the spokesperson said.
— With files from Global News’ Mercedes Stephenson and Reggie Cecchini
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