>> reporter: thanks for taking my question. what made this threatening enough to shoot down? what is different about this object than the last object that was over alaska because it was chosen not to shoot the last one down over alaska? >> so, you know, the important thing to understand here, anytime we detect anything, we're going to first of all observe it, and then make a decision and take appropriate action. so you have to look at each individual case on its own merits. in this particular case, given the factual that it was operating at an altitude that posed a reasonable threat to air traffic, the determination was made and the president gave the order to take it down. >> reporter: was there a specific threat or specific air civilian traffic that could have happened? >> as you know, civilian air traffic operate at a variety of ranges up to 40 to 45,000 feet. there was a reasonable concern that this could present a threat to or potential hazard to civilian air traffic.