hello. i m victor blackwell. welcome to cnn newsroom. any moment now, president biden is expected to update americans on the recent and unprecedented shootdowns of objects over north america. the president has been facing growing pressure to bring more transparency to the issue that has gripped the nation for the last month. let s get straight to jeremy diamond in washington. what are we expecting to hear from the president? this is the first time we hear directly from president biden in a formal setting on the downing not only of that chinese spy balloon but the three objects brought down between friday and sunday. to get to this point, a couple of things had to happen because the white house has really been in discussions over the last several days about the wisdom, the merits of the president potentially addressing this issue. they were wary at first of making this a bigger issue than it actually is. and they were also wanting to make sure the president waited until
coast of south carolina. so, today we re expecting to hear president biden explain to americans what the united states actually knows about these unidentified objects and also to lay out some of the steps that he s taking. we know he s tasked jake sullivan with leading an inner agency group that will involve officials from various federal departments and agencies to look at how the united states handles these situations. we know the white house is developing protocols going forward for how these types of objects are treated. whether or not they re shot down and what would merit these objects being shot down. one of the key factors here is looking at the height at which these objects were flying. that was part of what prompted the shoot downs over the weekend because they were flying in that range of commercial airspace, that chinese spy balloon was flying at 60,000 feet, that s why they allowed that one to float into the ocean before ultimately shooting it down. do we know if the pre
been taking on the the russian forces, the syrian air forces and the iranian air forces in the skies over syria. jeremy, how would it change your job at the defense department working for the secretary of defense if you were sitting there waiting for presidential decision that is simply were not coming? that would have been unacceptable. time matters. again, when lives are on the line you don t have a lot of time to waste. some of this authority should be predelegated. the rules of engagement should be set forth to the secretary of defense and the commanders on the ground. if there are jaumts to make you take that back to national security councils have that conversation in the inner agency group. ultimately take it to the president. if the president is not involved or more specifically if the president is unwilling to take the fight to russia in the skies over syria again that is a dangerous situation. jeremy bash thank you for sharing expertise and experience with us tonight.
unacceptable. time matters. again, when lives are on the line you don t have a lot of time to waste. some of this authority should be predelegated. the rules of engagement should be set forth to the secretary of defense and the commanders on the ground. if there are jaumts to make you take that back to national security councils have that conversation in the inner agency group. ultimately take it to the president. if the president is not involved or more specifically if the president is unwilling to take the fight to russia in the skies over syria again that is a dangerous situation. jeremy bash thank you for sharing expertise and experience with us tonight. appreciate it. tonight s last word is next. dear predictable, there s no other way to say this. it s over. i ve found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say.if you love something
etiquette basically of washington, and he just doesn t understand what he s doing. he doesn t know where the lines are. maybe he s a little clumsy, but cut him some slack. i think there s some truth to that. i think his gross inexperience reflects that. but i also think there are institutional there is institutional webbing around him. everything from the attorney general to the whole department of justice to all the other departments within the inner agency group, and he ignores them. he pays no attention to them. he does policy by tweet. this is absurd, and it s dangerous as i indicated before. the institutional checks and balances can t operate on an individual except in a draconian way like article 2 impeachment if he s operating in this sort of inexperienced and yet drive-ahead way. so i take that characterization as probably accurate, but it needs to change, and it needed to change t day he raise his hand and took the oath. well, so then what is you make a great point her