It started with a suspected Chinese spy balloon, shot down by the American military off the coast of South Carolina after being tracked floating over the continent for at least 4 days. Since then, three more as-yet-unidentified objects have been blown out of the sky, one near the coast of Alaska, one in the northern Yukon Territory, and one over Lake Huron. At this point we can say with some certainty that the origin of these objects is terrestrial, and that’s essentially it.

It may take some time before the public gets definitive answers about what, exactly, is going on here, but the events have sparked renewed debate about NORAD, and Canada’s ability to protect its airspace.

So what types of risk could these aerial incursions pose to people on either side of the 49th parallel? Are these floating objects something new, or are we just noticing them more often now that we’re on higher alert? 

GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University and a former national security analyst with the government of Canada. Read her Newsweek article about the floating objects here.

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