♪ . i'm margaret brennan in washington. and this week on "face the nation" -- breaking overnight, a u.s. f-22 shoots down a third unidentified aerial object in the skies over northwestern canada. fighter jets are scrambled following a curious radar signal over montana. what are these incursions all about? just one day after u.s. fighter jets shot down a high altitude airborne object over alaska, on saturday an unidentified item was taken down over the yukon territory of canada. debris recovery from both objects are under way as the fbi continues its analysis of what's left of that chinese spy balloon that was shot down a week ago off the coast of south carolina.

we'll talk with two key lawmakers, house foreign affairs committee chairman michael mccaul and senator jon tester. saturday night the military sent fighter aircraft to investigate what it called a radar anomaly over tester's home state of montana. frustration is mounting on capitol hill about what's going on here. and what more we can do to head off these intrusions. plus, we heard the president's take on the state of the union but as the nation's governors convene? washington, we'll check in with four of them on the state of their states and the challenges that they're facing. as the death toll grows in turkey and syria, we'll have the latest on recovery efforts and share our perspective on some of these global threats. it's all just ahead on "face the nation". ♪

good morning. welcome to "face the nation." as we come on the air, the big question in our minds today is, what is going on here? with what seemed like a deluge of potential incursions, what are these objects? where are they coming from? what is their purpose? and are we experiencing an increase of the so-called unidentified aerial objects or are we just looking for them more carefully following the chinese spy balloon event? we will do our best to try and get some of those questions answered today. we are going to begin with montana senatr jon tester. good morning to you, senator. >> good morning. >> so, late saturday, norad and northcom said there was a radar anomaly over your state, which is why air space was closed. was it a false alarm or is there an object over montana? >> i think the investigation is still going on as we speak. the truth is, is that there was

an anomaly and they've investigated it. 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. >> it hasn't been ruled out there may be something? >> there may still be something up there. it may be a false alarm. >> is the policy now to shoot down any unidentified object? >> well, i think that's a very, very good, and that's a better question for general milley, but the truth of the matter is they needed to have a policy, a policy to recommend to the president. it's something that the chairman of the defense committee and ranking member collins we talked about this and we're going to make sure there is a plan, a plan needs to be funded that it gets funded. what's gone on in the last, you know, two weeks or so, ten 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. >> you don't know what will happen to this object over montana? >> my guess is it will get shot down. >> okay. >> the military will make an assessment as to potential collateral damage like they did on the chinese spy balloon. >> you have spent time, as i understand it, with general milley. >> i have. >> chairman of the joint chiefs and over ther d.o.d. officials. could he share anything with you about this mysterious object that was cylindrical and the car sized one over alaska? >> you have what he shared with me at that moment in time and 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 it was of no threat. >> the object over alaska was nur prudhoe bay, one of the most important energy fields in this country. does that sound like it's state-driven espionage? >> i don't think things happen by mistake when it comes to

china? >> you think chis was china? >> i don't know. we will find out if, in fact, it was. with the chinese communist government or not. but the bottom line is, i think we need to take these things seriously. i think the president and i think more importantly the military are taking them very, very seriously, and to back that up, i think through the appropriations process in a committee, we're going to make sure they're taking it seriousl sohe ands w be there as we move forward, but this is, like i said, this has been a phenomenon we haven't had recently where we had other countries that went into our air space for the purpose of trying to gather information on what we're doing here in the united states. >> you said and you underscored your key role in helping to determine the budget there. >> yep. >> for the pentagon, you don't remember hearing anything that dealt with balloons. how long has the military been tracking this? >> i mean, that's a better

question for the military. from my perspective -- >> they weren' sharing it with congress. >> they weren't sharing it with me. i can't say what their awareness was over the last ten years, but, obviously, there was some awareness, but whether it was up to where it needed to be, that's a debate that congress needs to have and questions that need to be answered by our military leadership. >> you were very critical, you made that very clear, plain spoken, about the fact that the administration didn't shoot down the confirmed chinese spy balloon over the state of montana, and you wanted it shot down as soon as it was in u.s. air space. has your view changed at all after you've been briefed? >> yeah. well so initially i was very much for shooting it down when it was over the aleutians. i think what transpired was, is that the military took assessments as to potential collateral damage and the threat of this balloon, and, you know, we pay these folks good money to make sure we keep our nation

safe and i respect their view and the president followed that. going on in the future i think there needs to be a plan that's right up front, so we know exactly what's going to happen when these balloons come in and their threat is assessed, what's going to happen. look, i got briefed, both in open session and a classified session, and quite honestly, the military and intelligence communities explanation of what transpired with that balloon i accept. is it something i would have done right out of the chute? i probably would have done it different, but that's not saying i'm right or wrong or they're right or wrong. in the end we ended up with a balloon they've recovered and they're going to take and put it back together and reverse engineer it and find us what they're up to and the information that was gathered while it came across the united states >> so i hear you say there's value in that intelligence. >> yes. >> but in terms of damage according to what was declassified, the chinese balloon could intercept signals intelligence and pick up chat

are. it hovered over some pretty key states, locations in your state, including one that houses 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles. >> no doubt about that. >> was there damage done? >> no doubt about that. and there better not have been damage done or it makes my case for shooting the thing down ove. we have 150 from them. the air force base is a deterrent for this country and has been since the early '60s. the military made an assessment they wouldn't be able to gather the information that military thought was important to china. >> yeah. >> and if that didn't happen that way, somebody screwed up. >> you, on the issue of china, according to the federal government, 3% of the nation's farmland is owned by foreign investors. >> yes. >> you have recently introduced a bill to try to restrict foreign ownership of farmland. i know this is an issue in a number of farming states.

why do you think that needs to be a federal ban on foreign ownership? >> i'm a farmer and i've been farm, my grandparents' land at the homestead is important for food security. the folks -- this is a ban against china, russia, north korea and iran, folks who don't want to see us exist as a nation. i don't think they should have any opportunity to try to dictate our food supply or -- >> any chinese-owned company, period. >> period, done. because they're all connected with the communist chinese government anyway, and so i think it's a reasonable step to take. senator rounds out of south dakota does too, it's bipartisan. i think we should do it as a matter of course. i'm all about private property rights and people ought to be able to sell who they want to sell to, but not in this particular case because china wants to do bad things to us. same with north korea, russia and iran. let's take that off the table. both in farmland and in agra businesses. i think it would be a mistake, really a mistake for national security and for food security.

>> senator tester, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> good to have you here in person. and joining us now is david martin, our national security correspondent. david, you've been listening to this conversation. when you spoke with the pentagon, are they any more clear on whether it is now established u.s. policy to shoot down any ufo over north america? >> i don't think they have a policy. i think if a balloon, like -- an object like the last two, friday and saturday, is impinging on commercial aviation space, these both were up a at 40,000 feet, just the edge of commercial aviation, and if you don't know what they're doing, then you shoot and that's what they did in these two cases. >> it's an expensive habit. >> it's an expensive habit and also it may be a bad habit because you don't want to shoot first and ask questions later.

but at least now that they're down, we're going to get some answers. the canadian prime minister says he has a ground search team at the wreckage that went down over canada. they are not yet at the wreckage that went down just off northern alaska because they're like min degree temperatures, but sooner or later, we'll get the -- we'll get that wreckage and we'll know. >> what do we call these? they're being called objects because the military doesn't really have a term they want to share with the public about the them. are they balloons? >> i would call them balloon-like objects. they do not appear to have any maneuvering capability. they appear to be floating along at the speed of the wind. i just don't have a better word for that then balloon-like. >> and the prime suspect is

china? >> i wouldn't say that. >> no? >> i wouldn't say that, no. the prevailing wind brings everything that way from west, east, across northern alaska and northern canada, and there is a lot of what officials call sky trash up there. sky trash includes balloons that are put up by governments, thata eut up by research institutes, and probably just by private individuals and not for nefarious purposes, but just to collect scientific data. in the past, the u.s. just hasn't paid much attention to those balloons, but this chinese balloon was a game changer. >> yeah. >> and now, certainly the biden administration, does not feel it can simply let these other

objects pass through american air space. >> there were reports out of china about preparing to shoot down objects in their air space. i know when you were here last week you warned about the risk of miscalculation. >> sure. i was talking about reconnaissance flights. we don't, as far as i know, penetrate chinese air space with our flights, but just do it around the periphery. chinese have a history of coming out and buzzing those planes, detimes its darn close. now in theake of this bloon , w u. n toakeaution i ked secreta of defen ou that in an interview this week, and he just, you know, said you can be sure we are going to take all measures necessary to protect our planes. >> and i imagine that's one of the things he wanted to speak to

the defense minister about, although that phone call was not answered by his chinese counterpart. david, thank you. >> sure thing. we go now to congressman michael mccaul, the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. good morning to you. >> good morning, margaret. thanks for having me. >> i want to start on this unusual activity, three takedowns in eight days in the case of this spy balloon, this was chinese surveillance, according to the administration. on friday, they put restrictions on six chinese companies that allegedly helped china's military build that balloon. is this the right move to just try to make it harder for them to get u.s. technology or does congress need to do move. will be one of my number one priorities as the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in this congress to stop the export of technology to china that then goes into their most advanced

weapons systems, in this case a he sophisticated spy balloon that went across three nuclear sites. i think it's important to say, in plain view of the american people. in montana, the triad site, air, land, and sea nuclear weapons in omaha, the spy balloon went over our strategic command, which is our most sensitive nuclear site. it was so sensitive that president bush was taken there after 9/11. missouri, the b-2 bomber, that's where they are placed. it did a lot of damage. >> is that what u.s. intelligence told you? they've been saying they mitigated the impact. >> they say they mitigated it, but my assessment, i can't get into the detail of the intelligence document, is that if it was still transmitting, going over these three very sensitive nuclear sites, i think if you look at the flight pattern of the balloon it tells the story as to what chinese

were up to as they controlled this aircraft throughout the united states. going over those sites, in my judgment, would cause great damage. remember, a balloon can see a lot more on the ground than a satellite. >> so you said you want to try to stop the export of technology that can be used by china's military. as a conservative, though, how much -- this has to make you uncomfortable to have government try to control private business investment. how do you do that? >> well, we have what's called an entities list at the department of commerce has jurisdiction over the office within there, the department of defense has one. we need to harmonize those and make it more security focused. capital flows is one issue, but technology exports into china that they use to eventually turn against us, we have to stop doing that. i think we can do it by sectors. they do it by companies now. obviously, they identified the six. i think shockingly, when the balloon was recovered, it had

american-made component parts in there with english on that. parts made in america that were put on a spy balloon from china. i don't think the american people accept that. >> do you believe that this was a strategic choice by xi jinping's government in beijing, or do you believe it was just the left and right hand not knowing what was going on? >> when i saw the sites that it was flying over, it was very clear to me this was an intentional act. it was done with provocation to gather intelligence data and collect intelligence on our three major nuclear sites in this country. why? because they're looking at what is our capability in the event of a possible future conflict in taiwan. they're really assessing what we have in this country. i find it extraordinary that the timing of this flight as well. you know, right before the state of the union speech and also before secretary blinken was

scheduled to meet with chairman xi, i think there was an act of belligerence on their part and perhaps they don't care what the american people think about that. >> before i let you go, i want to ask you, you voted in the last congress to provide assistance to ukraine, but this past week, at least ten of your members, republican members, introduced a bill called the ukraine fatigue resolution to try to cut off aid. how hard is it going to be to have a republican-led house continue to help ukraine? >> i still believe, margaret, there are many on both sides of the aisle m, the majority in support of this. we have factions on left and right that do not support ukraine. >> this is a republican bill. >> right. and i do think for me, particularly, we have to educate where has money gone, you know, the audits are in place right now, there are four of them, on ukraine funding, and we have to explain why is ukraine so

important? what happens in ukraine impacts taiwan and chairman xi. the china's aligned with russia, iran and north korea, against freedom, democracy, and the west. that's a debate we'll have, but i still feel very confident we will give them the assistance they need. i would like to see it faster so they can win this faster. >> you think matt gaetz, marjorie taylor greene, others who sign this need to be educated in. >> you know, look, we took marjorie taylor greene into a briefing. she was satisfied, i thought, with what the controls have been put in place on the spending, but i don't think that they will ever be persuaded that this cause is something that they would support. i think they have this false dichotomy we can't help ukraine beat back the russians who invaded their country and secure the border. we can do both. we're a great nation.

the fact of the matter is, unfortunately this administration has chosen not secure the border. he can't even control and secure our air space now, it looks like. >> congressman mccaul, thank you for your time today. >> thanks, margaret. thanks for having me. "face the nation" will be back in one minute. stay with us. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, but at fisher investments we're clearly different. (other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right? (fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades.

(fisher investments) never at fisher. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. the dets tol from the massive earthquake in turkey and syria continues to climb. there are more than 28,000 dead pand the u.n. expects that numbr to double or more. our mts reports from turkey. >> reporter: there are no words fo this kind of grief. but for the tens of thousands whose loved ones were also killed in the quake, it's a gut-wrenching agony they all share. an agony that has touched every street and every corner of the southeastern city of hatti, one of the hardest hit of the 7.8

magnitude quake and the powerful aftershocks that followed. these rescue workers remain determined to keep looking for survivors, even as the hope of finding someone alive slips away with every passing minute. >> it's been seven days now, and despite the exhaustion, the cold and the sadness, these men say they're determined to keep searching. so, too, are these rescuers, as they carefully sift through the ruins of an apartment building. but then, their worst fear, as dislodged chunks of concrete and twisted metal start raining down on top of them. one emergency worker was moderately injured. the rest, unharmed. for survivors who have already buried their loved one, the sadness is all consuming, as more fresh graves are dug up in anticipation of mass burials to come. the scale of the devastation continues to defy comprehension. international aid is now pouring in from around 45 countries, including the u.s.

but for badly devastated syria, just two convoys have made it into the northwestern idlib province, the last remaining rebel-held territory in a nation already torn apart by more than a decade of civil war. this week, the u.s. treasury announced it would ease sanctions on the syrian government for 180 days as part of efforts to speed up humanitarian assistance. president bashar al assad insists on handling all the aid shipments himself, including to rebel-held territories, a major concern for most international donors who remain slow in committing support. for now, most of what's crossing the border into syria from turkey are the remaining of syrian refugees killed in the earthquake. a country they once had to flee in order to save their lives, now only to return in death. >> reporting from turkey. >> we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us.

this portion of "face the nation" is brought to you by charles schwab. own your tomorrow. charging something like a hundred bucks a window when other guys were charging four to five-hundred bucks. he just didn't wanna do that. he was proud of the price he was charging. ♪♪ my dad instilled in me, always put the people before the money. be proud of offering a good product at a fair price. i think he'd be extremely proud of me, yeah. ♪♪ dealdash.com the fair and honest bidding site. this kitchenaid mixer sold for less than $26. this i-pad sold for less than $43. and this playstation 5 sold for less than a dollar. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save.

be sure to join us next sunday. we'll be talking with bernie sanders, two-time democratic presidential contender and vermont independent senator. that's next sunday on "face the nation." th merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company.

think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no. he's making real-time money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. when we come back, we'll be talking with four of our nation's governors, and we'll start off with new hampshire republican governor chris sununu who is eyes a possible presidential run in 2024 and we'll ask him about that and a lot more. stay with us.

>> the race for the 2023 pbr world title turns to oklahoma this week in the heart of bull country. tulsa has played host to some of the biggest rides and rankest bulls in pbr history. justin mcbride aboard voodoo -- >> two champions right here! >> mike white versus troubadour. >> tulsa, come on! >> j.b. mauney took down the world's most famous bull, bushwacker. >> we have seen history! >> and in 2021 jose vitor leme and woopaa etched the highest ranked