Things are getting rather bizarre at the US Northern Command and the North American
Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Its increasingly prominent commanding chief, one
General Glen VanHerck, has abandoned any initial sense of frankness in discussing the
destruction of an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon on February 4.
Since that disproportionately violent event, more public relations than sense, three other
objects have also been destroyed. “We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,”
the general said cryptically in remarks made on February 12. The briefing came in the
aftermath of the downing of an octagonal-shaped object over Lake Huron on the US-Canada
border.
Cultures of paranoia and suspicion approach such statements the way crops take to manure.
The line between extraterrestrial fantasies and human-made balloons can become grainy.
Tinfoil hats become charged; fear finds a funnel to travel through. The suggestion from the
general that “the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out”
signalled an avalanche of speculation. This was given further impetus by VanHerck’s
assertion that he “hadn’t ruled out anything” to a question on whether aliens featured in the
mix. “At this point, we continue to assess every threat or potential threat unknown that
approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.”
On February 13, the White House was left to deal with the excitement caused by the
Pentagon’s speculations. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was given the bucket to dampen
the enthusiasm. “I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no
sign, again no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.”
John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the
White House, was also adamant in his briefing: “I don’t think the American people need to
worry about aliens with respect to these crafts, period.” Hardly reassuring to those glued to
such reports as that from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in June 2021,
which refused to rule out the possibility that 144 unidentified aerial phenomena might have
extraterrestrial provenance.
The bafflement over these objects has added some zest to the already exaggerated China
threat. It is a throwback to the Cold War, which was characterised by ill-educated second
guesses about performance, capability, and awareness about an inscrutable enemy. Foes,
drunk with threat inflation, jousted in the dark and groped in the wilderness, finding a mirage
of reality.
With the latest belligerent undertakings by the US government, an escalation is being
encouraged by the hawks in Congress. Kirby, wishing to add a sting to the China effort, told
the press that Biden, on coming to office, directed the US intelligence community to conduct
a broad assessment of Chinese intelligence capabilities. “We know that these [Chinese]
surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries on multiple continents around the
world, including some of our closest allies and partners.”
This is hardly a unilateral game. Having accused Beijing of such airborne surveillance
present and past, the Biden administration is now facing accusations of its own. According to
the PRC, the US has conducted its own exercises in flying high-altitude balloons in its
airspace – no fewer than 10 times last year. To that can be added hundreds of reconnaissance
missions. “It’s very common that the US intrudes [into] others’ airspace,” remarked Chinese
foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, citing 657 sorties made by Washington in 2022
and 64 aircraft flights in January “over the South China Sea alone”.
Kirby was cocksure in denying such claims, even those alleged missions that might apply to
Taiwan or the South China Sea. “There is [sic] no US surveillance aircraft over Chinese – in
Chinese airspace.”
The Balloon Affair has also tickled the interest of Washington’s allies. Object fever is
catching. The United Kingdom, that reliably unquestioning transatlantic appendage of US
power, is hopping on the bandwagon. The country’s transport minister, Richard Holden, did
not even care to cite any evidence of “Chinese spy balloons” making their way through
British airspace. What mattered was that it was “possible” and “that there will be people
from the Chinese government trying to act as a hostile state.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace further suggested, with forced graveness, that, “The UK and
her allies will review what these aerospace intrusions mean for our security. This
development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse.”
Blame it on those objects.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also reminded the good people of Britain that the country is ever
vigilant to any incursions from hot air objects or anything similar to them. “We have
something called the quick reaction alert force which involves Typhoon planes, which are
kept on 24/7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important.”
Tobias Ellwood, Conservative chairman of the Commons defence select committee,
swallowed the suggestion that those sneaky Orientals were “exploiting the West’s weakness”
with their mysterious aerial instruments. At least there was no mention of aliens, but that is
increasingly becoming a distinction without a difference.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He
currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
