Did Biden Go 'Trigger-Happy on a Bunch of Kites and Balloons'? Kirby: 'No Apologies Here' (February 17, 2023)

A week after President Joe Biden ordered fighter jets to shoot down three mystery objects, a reporter laid out the case his critics were making. “And what they depict is a Commander-in-Chief who, according to a Washington Post reporting, was able to track this Chinese spy balloon from the inception of its mission off of Hainan Island, all the way to U.S. airspace and across the country,” the reporter, whom Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called James, told National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Feb. 17, 2023 [1].

“And who then presided over a series of missions in which millions and millions of dollars were spent and missiles were fired at objects that you now concede most likely were benign in nature. And that suggests a Commander-in-Chief who overreacted after allowing the Chinese spy balloon to do what it did and then went trigger-happy on a bunch of kites and balloons that had no military threat to them,” the reporter said [1].

“Nobody — no Americans in the air were hurt. No Americans in the air or — and the ground were hurt, James. No significant surveillance achieved by the Chinese spy balloon,” Kirby answered, according to the official White House transcript. “No apologies here.” [1]

The video above shows the exchange at the Feb. 17, 2023, briefing. Quotes are from the official White House transcript and Biden’s remarks the day before [1][2].

”He Will Never Apologize for That”

Kirby doubled down. “The President did exactly that. He put the safety and security of the American people first. And he will never apologize for that, nor should he,” he said [1].

The reporter asked whether Biden would do it again. “And with everything you know now — knowing everything he knows now, would he take the exact same steps and shoot off these expensive missiles at these benign objects?” [1]

“We’re going to put some more policy parameters in place, James, to govern the way we handle these going forward,” Kirby said. “You make the best decisions you can with the information you have, at the recommendation of military leaders. I can’t say it any more than that.” [1]

“Put Yourself in His Shoes”

The overreaction question came up at the start of the briefing, too. “I know the President said yesterday he ‘stood by it,’ that it was ‘out of an abundance of caution.’ But an anecdote like this, does it make any sort of reconsideration of perhaps this was an overreaction at any point over the past week?” a reporter asked [1].

“So, I’d ask you, just for a second, put yourself in his shoes, certainly in light of the Chinese spy balloon and what was a very real, certainly a very sizable, and tangible security threat — surveillance threat to the United States — in the wake of that,” Kirby said [1].

“So, the short answer to your question is: Absolutely not. You know, given the situation we were in, the information available, the recommendation of our military commanders, it was exactly the right thing to do at exactly the right time,” he said [1].

”A 12-Dollar Hobby Balloon”

Earlier, a reporter raised a hobby club in Illinois. “Was there any feeling of frustration of perhaps this was a 12-dollar hobby balloon from a group of kids in Illinois, after the fact?” [1]

“So, again, I say to you, the short answer to that is ‘no,’” Kirby said. “If it turns out that they were, in fact, civilian or recreational use or weather balloon and therefore benign — which is what the intelligence community thinks — isn’t that a better outcome than to have to think about the possibility of greater threats to our national security?” [1]

Then a reporter Jean-Pierre called Jacqui asked about paying the club back. “So, John, I take that to mean you guys don’t have any plans to reimburse the ‘Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’?” Kirby said: “I don’t know of any plans to reimburse. We honestly don’t know what this is.” [1]

“I Never Said We Had Zero Idea”

Reporters pressed on what the jets saw. “First, it defies reason that you would have zero idea what these three objects were since the fighter jets themselves took video of their sorties. Will you release the cockpit videos from those missions?” a reporter asked [1].

“I’d have to refer you to DOD on that, James, in terms of releasing the imagery. I never said we had zero idea. I said we don’t know what they are, and so did the President,” Kirby said [1].

A week earlier, after the first of the three was shot down over Alaska, Kirby had been asked who might own it. “I have no idea,” he said then, as HYGO News reported [3].

By the Numbers

3: objects Biden ordered taken down after the Chinese balloon [2].
$12: the hobby balloon price a reporter cited [1].
0: Americans hurt, per Kirby [1].
Lake Huron: where one of the objects went down, per Kirby [1].

What Happened Next

The objects were likely harmless. Biden had said the day before that “the intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.” [2]

No recovery promised. “And because of where it is, over Lake Huron, I mean, we all have to accept the possibility that we may not be able to recover it,” Kirby said of one object [1].

For Kirby confirming the Alaska shootdown, see HYGO News’ page on Feb. 10, 2023. For Jean-Pierre handing the objects briefing to Kirby, see the page on Feb. 13, 2023.