A Chinese reconnaissance balloon that crossed the United States could have likely transmitted sensitive data to the Chinese Communist Party before it was shot down by U.S. forces on Saturday, a foreign policy expert told Fox News Digital.
Military officials decided to remove the balloon just one week after it was first spotted in Alaska. But President Biden wasn’t made aware of the balloon’s existence until Tuesday, when it passed over Montana. The local news broke story of its existence on Thursday.
The Pentagon said Thursday that it “acted immediately to prevent the collection of classified information” from the balloon. But geopolitical experts said there was little reason to believe those efforts were successful, as the balloons almost certainly transferred surveillance data to China as they flew over several military bases. .
Brandon Weichart, author of winning spacehe said he believed China had successfully collected US military and technical intelligence through spy balloons.
“Kudos to the Department of Defense, but I think that’s BS. They’re saying that to protect their ego and image,” Weichert told Fox News Digital. It was a long-range surveillance mission prompted in part by comments from the Department of Defense about the possibility of going.”
Chinese spy balloon flying over Trump’s US ‘later spotted’
A Chinese reconnaissance balloon that crossed the United States could have likely transmitted sensitive data to the Chinese Communist Party before it was shot down by U.S. forces on Saturday, a foreign policy expert told Fox News Digital.
(Evan Fisher)
Gordon Chan, a senior researcher at the Gatestone Institute, said it was mostly confirmed that the Chinese mission was a success. The most scandalous aspect, he said, was that Biden wasn’t briefed until days after the balloon was spotted by his military.
Chan told Fox News Digital that he has reason to dismiss the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff if they have not been informed as President Biden claims. “This failure could have serious consequences for the United States.”
The Pentagon said Saturday that three similar reconnaissance balloons from China flew over the United States under the Trump administration. A senior government official told Fox News that the presence of Chinese spy balloons over U.S. territory during the Trump administration was not discovered until the Biden administration took over.
Trump, head of the National Security Agency, refutes claims that Chinese spy balloon passed us under last control
President Biden was not immediately briefed on intelligence that Chinese spy balloons were flying over the United States
(Fox News)
“It is highly likely that the Chinese government compromised classified US data through spy balloons,” said Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official who specializes in foreign aerospace.
“This brazen intelligence operation launched by Beijing targeting the mainland United States will allow the Chinese military to glean critical insights into the Biden administration’s policies and attitudes toward China, as well as President Biden’s ‘red line’ of foreign aerospace assets. was almost certainly possible. It violates U.S. sovereign airspace,” Koffler told Fox News Digital. “These insights will be very useful for China in developing a deterrence strategy to deter the United States from intervening in China’s future offensive operations against Taiwan.”
US Intel assesses Chinese spy balloon passed over US several times, ‘undetected’: senior management official
President Biden ordered the military on Tuesday to remove a Chinese spy balloon, which he said was finally destroyed on Saturday.
(Anna Moneymaker)
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The Pentagon said it was waiting to destroy the Chinese balloon over concerns that the debris could harm civilians and destroy property. Weichert said Secretary of State Anthony Brinken was due to visit China on an official visit this week, but was due to do so after media backlash over balloons “made us look weak.” This led to a public disaster.
“It was a political decision. We didn’t want to upset China before the event,” Weichart told Fox News Digital. “Biden is willing to sell national security to get a fine line with China on global warming.”
