Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just spoke from Brussels, Belgium on the issue of the three “objects” that have been shot down by the U.S. in the past three days over the U.S. and Canada.

Austin was asked if there was now a new policy to shoot down these “objects” whenever they are spotted.

Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin on the downed objects:

"We don't know if they were actually collecting intelligence, but because of the route that they took, out of an abundance of caution we want to make sure that we have the ability to examine what these things are…" pic.twitter.com/Hk2nRfi5jJ

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 13, 2023

Austin said they were going to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis and evaluate based on the recommendation of the NORAD/Northcom Commander and the chair of the Joint Chiefs. He said they were shot down because there was a risk to civilian flight.

Austin said that they had not recovered any debris from the three most recent shoot-downs.

Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin: "We've not recovered any debris from the three most recent shootdowns." pic.twitter.com/uYih7IuCEH

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 13, 2023

He also said they weren’t identifying them as balloons yet because they didn’t know yet. He said they were trying to recover the material.

Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin describes recovery efforts between the US and Canada of the downed objects in Yukon and Lake Huron. pic.twitter.com/UIhD5jme8e

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 13, 2023

Austin made clear this was different from the Chinese spy ballon the prior week. He said, “We do not assess that the recent objects pose any direct threat to people on the ground.”

Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin: "The three objects taken down this weekend are very different from what we were talking about last week." pic.twitter.com/MA3wGRLllJ

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 13, 2023

He said they would continue to focus on figuring out their nature and purpose.

So how can they assess they don’t pose any direct threat if they don’t know what they are and they don’t know their purpose? As I just noted, this is the highest Biden official to comment so far, as Joe Biden has failed to comment.