U.S. shoots down "high-altitude object" over Alaska at the direction of President Biden, White House says

The Pentagon, at the direction of President Biden, shot down a "high altitude object" over Alaska airspace on Friday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed during Friday's White House briefing. The incident comes several days after the Pentagon took down a Chinese spy balloon that crossed much of the continental U.S. 

Kirby, asked about the possibility of another object floating over U.S. airspace, said he "can confirm that the Department of Defense was tracking a high-altitude object over Alaska in the last 24 hours." The Pentagon is still assessing this latest object, and it's not clear who owns it or what its purpose was.

Kirby said this latest object was the size of a "small car," and over a "very sparsely populated" area, allowing for it to be taken down more easily than the Chinese spy balloon that was larger than the Statute of Liberty. Kirby said the president's main concern was the threat this latest object posed to civilian flights. This latest object landed off the Alaskan coast.