The high alert was the main reason. The training and wasteful money was to counter the cost of shooting it down. I don’t know how much is grandstanding by gov officials but until recently they all seemed pretty concerned about it. Also the balloon was at an altitude that could interfere with planes, so we shot it down. Didn’t really cost us anything and gave some pilot a little training. The only thing that concerns me is now the whole world knows our capabilities. We can accurately track and shoot down a balloon sized object, with a almost no existent radar signature. I’m undecided if that’s a bad thing or a good thing for everyone to know.