0 prude obey witches on the border of canada and alaska on the northern side of the continent. that's all we know, we know that it was there for the better part of 24 hours and was shot down at 1:45 east coast time today. we will continue covering breaking news. i will see you back here on "fox news at >> can you speak to rumors that there is another chinese balloon above alaska or any other u.s. territory that the u.s. shot down? >> so i can confirm that the department of defense was tracking high altitude object over alaska air space in the last 24 hours. out -- the object was flying at altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. out of abundance of caution and recommendation of the pentagon, president biden ordered the military to down the object and they did and it came inside our territorial waters, the waters right now are frozen, but it's territorial air space and waters. assigned to u.s. northern command took down the object in the last hour. >> all right, here is what is fascinating about how this all went down. we got wind of this less than an hour ago. what we're learning now and what you just heard there, came 11 minutes into john kirby's press conference. he didn't volunteer it, he was asked about it. had the question not been asked, would we know? there is a lot we don't know. this is neil cavuto, that is "your world," and trying to keep track of an incident that involved some object, country of origin not known, unmanned, shot down by an f-22 flying out of the air force base in anchorage, alaska. again, at that point, an hour prior, this going down two hours ago. we would not have known had a reporter not asked the question, it was not the theme or start of this presser. so many questions to ask, let's get to it. lucas has more. >> lucas: the f-22 shot down an object flying at 40,000 feet in u.s. territorial waters over northeast alaska near the border with canada. john kirby said the f-22 downed that object on orders of president biden today. debris is sitting on frozen water in the arctic and aircraft have been launched out of almandorf, smaller than previous spycraft, size of a small car, no significant payload. kirby said it was shot down over alaska, it was deemed flight issue because at 40,000 feet, you have civilian airliners flying. it did not maneuver like the chinese aircraft, he said the object was discovered last night and shot down over northern alaska, here is pat ryder. >> aerospace defense command detected an object and further investigated and identified the object using flighter aircraft, flying at altitude of 40,000 feet and posed reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. u.s. northern command is beginning recovery operations now. >> lucas: john kirby said it is not clear which country owned that object, pat ryder said the object was shot down at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. an f-22 shot down that object with a side-winder heat-seeking missile and the u.s. army helicopter was sent to recover the debris. the 11th airborne division is in alaska, u.s. army soldiers taking part in the recovery. neil. >> neil: lucas, they knew enough it was unmanned and safe to shoot down. it was a smaller object, the size of a small car versus the chinese balloon last week the size of three buses. three school buses. if you can discern it was unmanned and get close enough to get a good sense of its size, that of a small car, you can certainly discern whether it is a balloon object or something else, couldn't you? >> lucas: you would think. officials are being very careful not to describe this in more detail other than to say an object the size of a small car, unload the 2000-pound payload shot in south carolina on saturday. this was flying in northeastern direction, we don't know where it came from or when it was first detected. we know the f-22 scrambled yesterday and john kirby said last night, so a number of hours, 12 plus hours of observation of the object. president biden gave the order today. it is notable, the u.s. military had to ask president biden for permission, this went up the chain of command, hours after it was detected and the question of origin. russia is very near alaska, neil, where did this come from? russia, china? u.s. military on high alert and notable this object does not appear to have turned around and was flying northeastern direction. >> neil: has any country volunteered to say it is ours? >> >> lucas: no. >> neil: the white house is curious way this was announced to the world, we were 11 minutes into the john kirby preser before we found out about it. mark meridith is putting this together at the white house, what do we know? >> it turned into quite an afternoon, moments ago president biden offered his first comments on this object that was shot down off the coast of alaska. the president was welcoming the president of brazil, he said it was a success, meaning the shootdown of this object within the last few hours. our cameras are on our way to the oval office because the president of brazil is here, so it is possible the president may have more to say about it. we have to bring the tape back m and play it, it will be a few minutes, we'll see if the president has any information. the white house broke this news after reporters began asking about something trending online about the possibility of another object out there. there is a lot that the white house admits they do not know at this point. it was from john kirby, who was able to offer details about what they learned so far, take a listen from the briefing late this afternoon. >> it was an object at 40,000 feet and the predominant concern by the president was the safety of flight issue at that altitude. last saturday was at 65,000 plus feet, no threat to civilian aircraft, this could have posed a threat to civilian aircraft and did not appear to have the maneuverable capability the other one did. >> working to determine where this device came from and questions how the u.s. will respond going forward because of what china did with the first spycraft that was shot down. the decision to shoot this down was a stark departure from a week ago, the president addressed the first incident sitting down with telemundo on thursday. >> it is totally violation of international law, it is our air space and once it comes in our space, we can do what we want with it. >> those are comments the president made on thursday, we'll see if he has fresh reaektion when we are in the oval office in the next few minutes. lawmakers are keeping this issue front and center. congressional team say staffers have been briefed about what is going on, no indication, maybe the senators have in washington getting this meeting together may take time. the staffers have been briefed. neil, there will be questions about what the chinese may or may not say, they had a news conference this morning and the foreign ministry was asked about the incident last week and they said they believe congress was overreacting or dramatizing the incident. >> neil: i appreciate it, mark. i was hearing remarks about another object being sighted, is that similar to sightings we had for those who had seen the balloon last week and that is how the administration became aware of this? do we know the genesis, in other words, as to how the white house found out about it? >> our understanding, it was the pentagon that found out and alerted the white house, not necessarily the public. they were aware before, the way that became public, it was spotted over the continental u.s. this is more remote area and the u.s. was tracking it. why didn't this come up in the beginning of the press briefing? it is indication they knew the questions were coming and seemed like they were prepared, odds are it would have come up, maybe not the first question. the other headline, president biden will be heading to poland later this month, they were prepared for that question off the top, more details they had. >> neil: just follow on -- i am curious then had the question not come up, would they have addressed it at all? >> i -- if i was a betting man, i am, i would imagine it would have been brought up at the white house briefing or the pentagon briefing this afternoon. if they didn't and they said they knew about it, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't, they admitted there is a lot they don't know. >> neil: an old line bearing the lead, maybe they didn't want to talk about the lead. >> it is friday afternoon in d.c., nevera dull moment. >> neil: given last week's developments, you would wonder. maybe they will detail all of that. mark meridith on that. the president was meeting with the nation's governors today, we have no indication he shared this with them, he might indicate more in discussions with the brazilian president, if he takes questions. looks like one was shouted out on this, when we get that tape, we'll share that with all of you. go to general newton vice chief of staff. general, good to have you and thank you for coming on such little notice, we appreciate it. your thoughts? >> good afternoon, neil, been a busy afternoon and seven days and the center of discussion is balloons. there is disparity between the shoot down today and this object, we'll call balloon for this discussion and the balloon that was shot down on saturday. the significant aspect, however, i believe it certainly has intention of our administration and the american people. once we determine the origin, if it is china, that is another thing. now here is another -- and i don't have facts here, if it is from china, you have another breach of u.s. air space, if it is not, it comes from another source, then there is a whole other issue of potential conflict with balloons, of all things. my final point, the discovery the american people have made that was certainly understood to some degree inside the pentagon was this fleet of chinese spy balloons, 40 nations, five continentses, fast forward to last saturday, we shot it down with one shot, one kill. fast forward to today, couple hours ago, one shot, one kill, from an f-22 from another object that penetrated u.s. air space. >> neil: general, the time line, they are not sharing everything, nor would they in a case like that, i get that. a lot doesn't add up. we were tracking this last night, we don't know when last night, but we were tracking it. i don't know if we were first tracking it at 40,000 feet, that would it would be altitude an aircraft would fly, i recognize the danger. it would be many hours later, in fact, two hours ago, it will ultimately be shot down. what do you make of that timeline and what they were watching and what might have precipitated this response of we're going to shoot it down? >> when i was on the join chiefs of staff, oversaw global situations and i understand chain of command and the communication aspect of this. the fact we started to track this balloon 24 hours ago and alerted the white house and appropriately made the decision to shoot it down, because of the danger to civilian air space at 40,000 feet, there is civilian traffic over the top of the planet and so forth. i believe that is appropriate. i firmly believe there isn't a lot more we can do right now. i suspect inside the pentagon and at norad and defense command, they are gathering the facts. my colleague keith kellogg said, let's not necessarily believe the first reportses, we'll dig into this. the pentagon understands, however there is aspect of this they likely don't, that would be origin of the balloon and what was the mission, if it had a mission at all. i don't know if it is surveillance, weather or commercial. i know this, we've had two balloons that have gone through u.s. air space and administration made a good call shooting this down, especially before becoming danger to u.s. air space. >> neil: if it was a chinese craft, they would have come out and made some mention of it or anger over the shooting down of it. again, so much we don't know, to your point, general. i'd like to get or share your sense of the protocol done here. norad aware last night, ran it up to the food chain to the president, the commander-in-chief who gave go-ahead to shoot it down. we are told by the general on their recommendation. is that how it has to be? if they see a threat, let's say instantly saw this as a threat last night, could they have made the decision themselves or the pilots involved to shoot it down? >> yeah, in this case, i think the decision process, as i understand it at this point, was correct. however, there is other situations. if there is imminent danger to the american people, where northern -- norad has the authority to shoot down if imminent threat and danger, in this case i don't see imminent threat and dangerous situation. i think it was a correct decision and they upchannel this to the pentagon and white house almost immediately. the other aspect i understand from my sources, we launched the f-22s and i've flown over that air space, it is vast uninhabited air force space. we flew f-22s, i'm sure they does some observation. what i am curious to know, were we able to launch the u2 reconnaissance aircraft that made several passes of that aircraft last week, we don't know if that is the case and they were able to take images from the ushg u2 and what were the f-22 ready to observe on several passes? that is thrown into a decision process and it appears to be the right decision at this point. my last point, back to the chinese. presuming its origin is china, we also have to really dig into the fact is where in china would this object or this balloon be authorized to be flying at this point? does it come out of the pla, the political bureau and so forth, politics behind china, the polar bureau, we don't know. those things will be unfolding in the next couple days or weeks. >> neil: yeah, if it was launched close to this balloon fiasco, you have to wonder that is hudspah. you could argue this was already up there or in that neighborhood but we don't know. >> fair argument, the challenge for the united states is china is modernizing nuclear forces, i'll use word breathtaking in terms of land base capability, launch capability and sea launch capabilities point one. it is not thinking of itself as reasonable power, but a global power and this spy balloon fleet is an example of one effort to be that global power, out of the new play book not just focusing on asia pacific, but the globe and able to penetrate u.s. air space. i'm assuming it is chinese air balloon, if it is not or it is russia and i'm not offer that as fact at all, we have to think about the consequences of its origin first and work backwards on this incident. >> neil: no one owned up to being theirs, it could have happened, we just don't know. thank you and thank you for your service to this country, sir richard newton. senator sullivan, were you aware of this, senator? >> i was briefed this morning from north com, northern commander was -- briefed me and i believe senator mccowski and the governor and identified this latest object over the sovereign space of alaska. and as i have been doing quite regularly, including in this classified briefing yesterday, with senior pentagon officials, i strongly encouraged northern command, u.s. northern command, to shoot this latest impingement on alaska air space down. i commend them for doing that. i have been briefed by alaska command military members based in our state on the mission and i do just want to say one thing about the mission. this is varsity level military operation. a lot of people don't understand the challenge and professionalism and just incredible military effort that occurs when you do an op like this. alaska is a huge state, with giant air space, this included f-22s, f-35s, f-16s, alaska national guard, tankers, we have rescue operation unitses that are on the ground right now doing a search for this operation. so really, really incredible work that the alaskan military is doing and continuing to do. this is an ongoing op over the skies of alaska, some at night, some of it in really difficult weather. so every american should know and appreciate the professionalism that has gone into this operation. these are not by any measure easy military operations to conduct. >> neil: senator, just trying to get the timeline you mentioned. you were notified this morning, are you in alaska, sir? >> no, i'm on the east coast. >> neil: this morning east coast time well before this sort of got blurted out at a john kirby presser 11 minutes into that presser. when you were told at that point, were you told this object was about to be shot down at that time? >> no. i -- again, they were tracking it. >> neil: right. >> our aircraft were tracking it. this actually came over into alaska air space in the area nome, western alaska by the bearing strait and shot down over dead horse. we talk about alaska remote, dead horse is prudhoe bay, one of the most important energy areas in america. right now the recovery operation are taking place about eight miles into the arctic ocean, but remember that is frozen, we have a good opportunity hopefully to find the pieces. this is much smaller than was shot down off the coast of south carolina. >> neil: true. >> they think it is about the size between a 55-gallon drum and a small volkswagen. that could be a challenge to find in the ice off the coast of alaska. at the time i was informed of the tracking of this, of the seriousness with which northern command was taking this, and like i said, my strong recommendation throughout this last couple of weeks, is if we have unidentified object that threaten our country or are spying on our country, that we should take effort to shoot this down. we should do it safely, if this is another chinese incursion and we don't know that yet and they emphasized that in briefings to me. i said this morning on a news show, neil, we need to reestablish a sense of deterence. if the chinese think they can willfully violate american air space, we need to make sure they understand otherwise. i commend the military for taking this action, challenging military action they carried out very professionally and wish those were still involved in the op, on the rescue side, on the recovery side, good luck and safety. it is tough to operate up in alaska, very cold and it is going to get dark early and right now our military is doing an exceptional job. >> neil: you know, i do notice when you talk about the difference, too, the criticism had been in the balloon and notification that montana governor and senators got, of course they didn't get any when it was flying overhead at the time. sounds like that is not the case here, you and your governor, governor dunleavy were notified. were you notified, as well, afterward that it was indeed shot down? >> yes, i've had briefings from northern command, which was responsible for this and i had briefings from the alaska command, which is sub-component command, northern command in norad on the operation. and i've been briefed, as well. >> neil: speaking of alaska and you've been patient, faa is reporting air space closed in northern alaska to support these defense activities to get this and to retrieve this object. is that still the case and will that go on indefinitely? do you know? >> well, when these kind of ops take place, neil, you can imagine, what you have seen in this case, coordination between active duty forces, our military forces, but also involved coordination with the faa, coordination i'm sure right now already with the fbi, to look at again on the recovery side. so if that is what you're hearing right now, i imagine that that is happening. remember, alaska plays a strategic role for our country in so many ways. we're the cornerstone of missile defense for the entire nation, missile interceptors are in alaska, comba