‘I Would Be Very Suspicious’ of All U.S. Adversaries: Former NORAD Chief Broadens Suspects on Recent Spy Balloons

Former NORAD Director of Operations General Scott Clancy warned the U.S. to remain vigilant after the military shot down a fourth airborne object on Sunday, the third object America has seen in the last three days.

Clancy joined CNN This Morning to address the public intrigue regarding the four high-altitude objects that have been shot down over America over the past two and a half weeks. The situation has prompted Glen VanHerck, the current commander of NORAD, to emphasize the recovery of these objects because “I would be hesitant and urge you not to attribute it to any specific country” until the analysis is complete.

When Clancy was asked for his thoughts about this, he referred to U.S. intelligence efforts to close the gaps in airborne detection systems since the Chinese spy balloon incident.

“The second thing and this is just conjecture from my perspective, I think you’re also seeing the confluence of distinctive activity by our adversaries to test our systems,” Clancy said. “I think it’s the confluence of both things that were producing this number of events.”

“Does that mean you think it’s China?” Kaitlan Collins asked.

“No. I do not,” Clancy answered. “I think that General VanHerck’s prudence — with respect to attribution of these last three — is well sounded, especially when we think of the tension that already exists, and the relations between China and the United States particularly.”

While Clancy acknowledged China’s aggression toward the U.S. and Canada, he insisted VanHerck had the right idea with his approach.

Making sure we can recover the objects before attribution is smart, but what I’m saying is, it smells to me — as the guy who was directed to conduct operations to defend North America — I would be very suspicious. I’d be on high alert to make sure that all of our adversaries are countered.

Watch above via CNN.

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