Sen. Jon Tester On Probe Into Potential Object Detected Over Montana: ‘May Still Be Something Out There’

Sen. Jon Tester, a Democratic Senator from Montana, stated that the investigation into a possible object found over Montana Saturday night was ongoing and that something may still be there.

Tester, Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, made the remarks during a Sunday appearance on CBS News’s “Meet The Press” Margaret Brennan, the host.

“The investigation is still going on as we speak,” He stated. “The truth is, is that there was an anomaly, and they’ve investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn’t fully check it out. I’m sure as we speak, it’s being checked out right now.”

“There may still be something out there,” He concluded. “It may be a false alarm.”

Tester said that there was likely damage done to U.S. national security because of President Joe Biden’s decision to allow a suspected Chinese spy balloon to traverse the nation before ordering it shot down off the Carolina coast last weekend.

“We’ve got ICBMs in Montana, we got 150 of them, Malmstrom Air Force Base is an incredible deterrent for this country and has been since the early 60s,” He stated. “The military made an assessment that they wouldn’t be able to gather the information that the military thought was important to China. And if that didn’t happen that way, somebody screwed up.”

MARGARET BRENNAN (Good morning): Welcome to Face The Nation. We are now on air. The big question is, what’s the matter with the seemingly inexorable invasions? What are these objects? What are their origins? What are their purposes? Are we seeing an increase in the number of unidentified aerial objects as well? Is it possible that we are just more vigilant in our search for these objects after the Chinese spy ballon event? We’ll do our best to answer these questions today. We’ll start with Montana Senator Jon Tester. Good morning, Senator.

SEN. JONTESTER: Good Morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN Or was it a false alert? Is there an object in Montana?

SEN. TESTER: The investigation is ongoing as we speak. The truth is is that there was an anomaly, and they’ve investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn’t fully check it out. I’m sure as we speak, it’s being checked out right now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So it hasn’t been ruled out. It’s possible that there is still something.

SEN. TESTER: Absolutely. It’s possible there is still something. It could be a false alarm.

MARGARET BRENAN: Should we now shoot down unidentified objects?

SEN. TESTER: Well, I think that’s a very, very good question, and that’s a better question for General Milley. However, the truth is that they must have a strategy, and they, the military, should have a plan to recommend to the President. It’s something that as- as Chairman of the Defense Committee and Ranking Member Collins, we’ve already talked about this. We’re going to make sure that there is a plan. We’re going to make sure if that plan needs to be funded that it gets funded. This is- what’s gone on in the last, you know, two weeks or so, 10 days, has been nothing short of craziness. And the military needs to have a plan to not only determine what’s out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you don’t know what will happen to this object over Montana.

SEN. TESTER: My guess is it’ll get shot down. However, the military will still assess potential collateral damage as they did for the Chinese balloon.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you have spent time, as I understand it, with General Milley–

SEN. TEST: I have.

MARGARET BRENNAN: –the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and other DoD officials. He could you share any information about the mysterious cylindrical object floating above Canada. Or about the car-sized one that he saw over Alaska.

SEN. TESTER: Well, I think you’ve got what he shared with me at that moment in time, and that they had done an assessment of it and determined that it was unmanned and determined that it should be shot down because they weren’t absolutely positive that it was of no threat.

MARGARET BRENNAN

SEN. TESTER: Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that sound to you like it’s espionage, state driven espionage?

SEN. TESTER: Well, look, I don’t think things happen by mistake when it comes to China.

MARGARET BRENAN: Do you think that this was China?

SEN. TESTER: I don’t know. I don’t know that it’s China. We’ll find it out later