{"id":36022,"date":"2023-02-14T20:50:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/14\/after-ufo-shoot-downs-senators-fret-over-holes-in-homeland-defenses\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:40:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:40:35","slug":"after-ufo-shoot-downs-senators-fret-over-holes-in-homeland-defenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2023\/02\/14\/after-ufo-shoot-downs-senators-fret-over-holes-in-homeland-defenses\/","title":{"rendered":"After UFO shoot-downs, senators fret over holes in homeland defenses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Lawmakers on Tuesday voiced frustration that, after tens of billions of dollars spent on America\u2019s sophisticated homeland defenses, low-tech objects of mysterious origins<\/a> managed to enter North American airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Biden administration gave senators a classified briefing Tuesday on four incursions by unidentified floating objects in recent days, lawmakers were left with many questions unanswered, and several have vowed to go over the North American Aerospace Command\u2019s budget and capabilities with a fine-toothed comb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe latest incidents reveal that we have real gaps when it comes to policing our airspace, and we need to have better situational awareness and more of a protocol of how exactly to react,\u201d Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee and its defense spending subpanel, told Defense News on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there are gaps that are caused by a lack of equipment or sensors or better radars, the Department of Defense needs to provide us with that information. The fact that the military was able to act so quickly on these subsequent objects raises very serious questions about why they did not act quickly on the first one,\u201d Collins added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Biden ordered the shoot-down of the suspected Chinese spy balloon that transited the United States earlier this month, NORAD \u2014 the U.S.-Canadian organization responsible for warning and defending against missile threats to North America \u2014 has been looking more closely for potential airborne threats, including by tweaking radar detection parameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three more unidentified devices were spotted and shot down, with the latest on Sunday over Lake Huron<\/a>, U.S. officials attributed the spike in part to NORAD sharpening the ability of its radar \u201cgates\u201d to detect small objects at high-altitudes, moving at slow speeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRadars essentially filter out information based on speed. So you can set various gates \u2014 we call them velocity gates \u2014 that allow us to filter out low-speed clutter,\u201d Gen. Glen VanHerck<\/a>, who leads NORAD, said in a call with reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\t