Rep. Mike Gallagher Slams Biden, Pentagon over UAPs: Potentially One of ‘Most Staggering Intelligence Failures Since 9/11’

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) slammed President Joe Biden and the Pentagon following the shooting down of several unidentified objects by U.S. fighter jets over the past several days, including one over Lake Huron during the weekend, in what he called potentially “one of the most staggering intelligence failures since 9/11,” insisting that it is “long past time for transparency” and that the American people “deserve to know what’s going on in the skies above their homes.”

In a Monday statement, Gallagher, who serves as the top Republican on the House Armed Services Military Personnel Committee and was recently selected to chair the Select Committee on China, responded to the downing of several Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) over the weekend.

Rep. Gallagher's statement in response to the several UAPs shot down over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/KrEBiUF1sZ

— Rep. Gallagher Press Office (@RepGallagher) February 13, 2023

“This weekend, in addition to the customary fighter jet flyover at the Super Bowl, Americans witnessed several much more troubling flyovers,” he began, adding that “after downing the Chinese Communist Party’s spy balloon on February 4, American F-16s and F-22s have now shot down three more as yet UAPs over North America.”

Noting that “huge swaths of airspace have been closed for national security operations” as a result, Gallagher pointed to the most recent object which “transited over the district I represent in Northeast Wisconsin and was described as ‘octagonal’ and having ‘strings’ hanging from it.”

The Wisconsin Republican, who was recently selected by Speaker McCarthy to serve as Chairman of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party following a bipartisan House vote to create the committee, demanded answers from the Biden administration.

 “We need answers from the Pentagon,” he said. “We need answers from the President himself.”

While admitting there are “times to err on the side of secrecy in national security operations,” Gallagher argued that “when our fighter pilots are shooting down presumably hostile aerial objects all across America, it’s long past time for transparency.” 

“Where are these UAPs coming from? What is their purpose? Are they related to the CCP’s spy balloon or other CCP-directed espionage programs?” he asked.

Citing a Washington Post report that the objects were identified after “we basically opened the filters” on radar and sensory equipment data, the Republican congressman argued that if correct, “we are potentially looking at one of the most staggering intelligence failures since 9/11.”

“How long have these objects operated in our airspace with impunity? How long has the Pentagon been aware of them?” he questioned, adding that “Congress has urgent and vital oversight interests in all these questions.”

Gallagher concluded by insisting that “the American people deserve to know what’s going on in the skies above their homes.” 

“It’s time for answers,” he added.

The statement follows the shooting down of an unidentified flying object over Michigan by the United States military on Sunday, the fourth such shoot-down in eight days.

That incident comes after the U.S. military shot down an object violating Canadian airspace on Saturday, a day after the U.S. military shot down yet another object that entered U.S. airspace over Alaska on Friday, and eight days after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, February 4.

The discovery of a rogue Chinese “surveillance” balloon — which Beijing confirmed originated in China but claimed had accidentally drifted far afield of its original course and into both Canada and America — flew for days across the western seaboard before confused onlookers in Montana began filming it in the skies, prompting the U.S. Department of Defense to confirm the Chinese vessel had breached U.S. airspace. 

Pentagon officials originally claimed they could not shoot down the balloon — which was flying at an estimated height of 60,000 feet, far above commercial aircraft — out of concerns that the resulting debris could injure people on the ground. 

Public pressure mounted, however, from both concerned citizens and members of Congress, that the balloon was equipped with advanced surveillance technology China could use to gather intelligence on sensitive American military sites.

After initially informing Americans that they should brace for the balloon to hover overhead for “a few days,” the Pentagon confirmed that an American F-22 fighter aircraft had shot down the balloon over the waters off of South Carolina.

In response, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expressed outrage over the downing of the spy balloon, calling it an “obvious overreaction.”

Since, however, the U.S. government has not attributed where the most recent three objects originated, nor identified publicly what exactly they were.

The additional incursions into U.S. airspace are likely to reignite criticism of the Biden administration for its inability to detect and prevent them, as well as its lack of transparency with the public, especially after the original Chinese spy vessel was confirmed by the U.S. government only after citizens spotted it in the sky and published it on social media.

Last month, prior to the revelation of the original Chinese spy balloon, Gallagher highlighted the need to “understand the urgency of the threat” of the CCP, claiming “there is no more critical challenge facing our nation today.”

He also called for a bipartisan “pushback against the Chinese Communist Party’s aggression.”

Previously, Gallagher warned the U.S. could lose the new “Cold War” facing America, claiming the country is “dangerously dependent” on Beijing, and demanding to “aggressively decouple anything associated with the military-civilian fusion.”