By Dennis Romero -
NBC News
US Northern Command said Friday that it was recommending ending the search for debris from two downed objects in US airspace this month.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin endorsed the recommendation, the command said in a statement.
The end of recovery efforts could mean the country never knows exactly what the objects were, how they were propelled and where they came from.
[The Pentagon recovers all the remains of the downed balloon and reaffirms its analysis that it was spying for China]
The conclusion applies to air objects shot down by US warplanes on February 10 near Deadhorse, Alaska, and on February 12 over Lake Huron, off the Michigan coast.
Biden sure doesn't want a cold war with China and says he won't apologize for bringing down the globe
Feb 16, 202301:42
“The US military, federal agencies, and Canadian partners conducted systematic searches in each area using a variety of capabilities, including airborne imaging and sensors, surface inspections and sensors, and subsurface scans, and found no remains,” the command said. .
Efforts at Deadhorse were hampered by Arctic conditions and unstable sea ice.
The recommendation does not cover the February 4 shooting down of what the United States has described as a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
[USA. believes the unidentified objects he shot down are balloons, but smaller than the artifact from China]
Military officials said recovery efforts in the Atlantic, which ended Thursday, were successful, and the recovered items were taken to an FBI laboratory "for counterintelligence exploitation," according to Friday's statement.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recovering a surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on February 5, 2023. Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson / US Navy / AP
The airspace and sea limits around the three recovery operations have been lifted, according to the command.
Another incident related to the shooting down of an aerial object took place in Canadian airspace on February 11 and falls under the jurisdiction of the Canadian authorities.
The Biden administration announced Monday that it was forming an interagency group to address the recent clustering and future unidentified objects.
[China threatens the United States for shooting down its balloon]
President Joe Biden made comments about the objects Thursday, downplaying the possibility that the downed non-ballistic objects could also be related to surveillance efforts.
"We still don't know exactly what these three objects were, but nothing suggests right now that they were related to China's spy balloon program, or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country," Biden announced in public statements.