Military Says the UFOs They Shot Down Aren't Aliens

"I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens."

Alien or Not

Four mysterious objects entered North American airspace over the last two weeks, leading to genuinely puzzling headlines. In a particularly wild escalation, their sudden appearance triggered the Pentagon to pick them out of the sky with fighter jets.

Even high-ranking Pentagon officials aren't entirely sure what to think — but they are willing to put to bed one of the biggest prevalent theories out there: that aliens are coming for a visit.

No Indication

During a press conference today, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that while "we have not yet been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are," they are likely not extraterrestrial in nature.

"I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens," Kirby told reporters.

"There is no — again — no indication of aliens or other extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated during the briefing.

As cool as it would be if we were living the plot of "Independence Day," the officials are probably right. If an extraterrestrial civilization had the highly advanced means of traveling all the way here from light years away, after all, they'd almost certainly have the means of evading humanity's primitive fighter jets.

Uncharted Territory

Despite ruling out the possibility, officials still have no idea what they just shot out of the sky.

According to reports, we know that two "cylindrical" objects were downed near the US-Canada border last week. The third unclaimed object that was shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday appeared to be "octagonal" in shape.

"These objects were not being maneuvered," Kirby said. "They did not appear to have any self-propulsion. So the likely hypothesis is, they were being moved by the prevailing winds."

While it may be tempting to conclude that the most recent objects were Chinese spy balloons like the one that was destroyed earlier this month, no country has come forward to claim ownership yet.

When asked if that was unusual, Kirby said that he was unable to say "whether that's strange or not."

"We're sort of in uncharted territory here, no pun intended," he added.

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