The Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Anita Anand, issued the following statement:
"Today at the Pentagon, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and I participated in a call with NORAD Commander, General Glen VanHerck regarding a high-altitude object detected over Alaska. The object did not fly into Canadian airspace.
"During this conversation, I conveyed Canada's support for taking action to take down this object. NORAD deployed aircraft to track and monitor the object and provided important information to decision-makers - and the object was taken down earlier today by United States Northern Command.
"The Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence and I will continue to work closely with our American allies to ensure the protection of North American airspace."
