Biden caught flack for doing the right thing and waiting for the Chinese balloon to clear the land, so I think no one wanted to chance that an aerial object might be see by pilots and not have been addressed. I suspicion these small balloons are common and just ignored- till now.
It seems there is a significant amount of obfuscation apparently intended to confuse the audience perhaps due to gov confusion.
Are we being prepared for actual UFO shoot downs? If so it is looney.
Whatever this is all about, I’ll not let it disturb me. This fun shall pass. We have more important concerns, like honest to God UFOs.