If President Trump were still in office, this shit would never happen.
UPDATES:
China tested balloons equipped with hypersonic missiles in 2018.
It carried explosives in case it had to self-destruct.
Supposedly, it’s happened before: A Chinese spy balloon crashed into the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii four months ago, U.S. officials say.
According to the NORAD commander, the balloon was never detected:
The Air Force general charged with protecting America’s air space from hostile threats acknowledged Monday that the U.S. military failed to detect some previous incursions by Chinese spy balloons, calling it a troubling “awareness gap” that needed fixing.
“We had gaps on prior balloons,” Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck told reporters.
The comment by the North American Aerospace Defense Command commander both raised concern about NORAD’s vaunted ability to detect airspace threats and also undercut a bungled weekend effort by the Biden administration to try to suggest former President Donald Trump failed to react to three incursions on his watch.
In fact, VanHerck told reporters during a Pentagon briefing, the Trump administration wasn’t told about the incursions because NORAD missed them and that they only recently were detected after the fact by U.S. intelligence agencies.
“I will tell you that we did not detect those threats. And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out,” he said, declining to be more specific about how earlier flyovers of Chinese spy balloons were missed.
He explained in general terms how the prior incursions were discovered. “The intel community, after the fact… made us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transited North America,” he said.
This fucking dingdong is in charge of NORAD.
No, it just collected Intel all the way across the country for the hostile ChiComs in Beijing.
ChiCom spy balloons trespassed several times:
U.S. intelligence assesses that Chinese government surveillance balloons have transited the continental United States several times but went “undetected,” a senior administration official told Fox News Digital…..a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that “U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration” assesses that “PRC (People’s Republic of China) government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior (Trump) administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”
The official told Fox News that “this information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left.”
“They went undetected,” the official told Fox News Digital.
Trump would have blasted them instantly if they were detected. He would have never allowed the ChiComs to get away with this.
It should have been blasted out of the sky over Montana. Instead they waited until after it sailed all the way across the country to South Carolina collecting intel, before they finally shot it down.
The ChiComs are laughing their asses off.
The U.S. military has shot down the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean.
While the balloon was off the coast of South Carolina, it was shot down by U.S. military fighter jets on Saturday afternoon, according to Fox News sources. A senior U.S. military official said that an F-22 was used to bring down the balloon at 58,000 feet, adding that a single A9X missile was fired.
A senior defense official said during a Thursday afternoon briefing that the U.S. government is “confident” the surveillance balloon is from the People’s Republic of China.
……A senior U.S. official told Fox News on Saturday that the government was considering a plan to shoot the balloon down while it’s over the Atlantic Ocean, where it wouldn’t harm any individuals on the ground.
The official added that the U.S. government could potentially recover the balloon.
During the briefing on Thursday, the defense official said that the balloon had been previously spotted over Montana, where a decision was made to not shoot it down because of the potential risks.
Bullshit. There’s no risk with a deflated balloon floating down toward the ground.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon is has now reached Kansas and Nebraska, according to Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall.
“I can confirm the Chinese spy ballon [sic] is over NE KS. My staff is in contact with law enforcement officials,” the lawmaker tweeted on Friday. “I condemn any attempts the Chinese make to spy on Americans. President Biden must protect the sovereignty of the U.S. whether it’s our airspace or the southern border.”
It is unclear from Marshall’s statement whether the balloon has entered Kansas airspace.
The balloon entered the U.S. via the Aleutian Islands chain of Alaska, before entering Canada and reentering U.S. territory in the skies over Montana, officials confirmed Thursday.
For the balloon to have reached Nebraska or Kansas, it likely first passed through either Wyoming or South Dakota. The Pentagon has declined to update the public in real time on the location of the balloon.
In a heated exchange, a Pentagon spokesman declined on Friday to specify the balloon’s exact location. When a reporter pressed him on the public’s right to know the location of the balloon, the spokesman indicated that “the public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is.”
The Pentagon thinks this is a fucking joke.
U.S. officials on Friday disputed claims from the People’s Republic of China that a Chinese surveillance balloon detected over the northern United States was a “civilian airship” that had blown off course.
A senior U.S. Defense official told Fox News that the balloon was launched from mainland China. The Pentagon does not believe that this was a weather balloon that flew off course. There was no “force majeure” that caused the Chinese surveillance balloon to enter U.S. airspace, as China’s foreign ministry spokesperson had claimed.
“This was intentional,” the senior U.S. official said.
The balloon is currently flying at 60,000 feet, which is higher than most U.S. warplanes or aircraft can fly. Multiple Republican lawmakers and former President Trump – who declared his candidacy for president in 2024 in November – have called on Biden to shoot it down.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen Pat Ryder announced Thursday that the U.S. government had detected the Chinese surveillance balloon flying over Montana. He said that this kind of balloon activity had been observed before and that once it was identified, the government “acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
Chinese officials confirmed that the balloon belonged to China on Friday.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. “Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course.”
The spokesperson continued, “The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace due to force majeure. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the U.S. side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.”
……Senior State Department officials said Friday it was a “statement of fact” that the Chinese balloon currently over the United States “is a clear and unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty.”
The Defense official fold Fox News Digital it was a “bold” decision by the Chinese government to fly a surveillance aircraft in U.S. airspace.
The U.S. does not fly spy planes over mainland China, the senior Defense official emphasized.
Biden was briefed on the situation and has weighed military options to deal with the balloon, but for now has decided against shooting the balloon down.
“To all those who say ‘just shoot it down. There’s a lot of empty space in Montana,’ there are also a lot of schools. It is not unpopulated,” another senior official said. “What happens when this balloon, which is carrying heavy equipment and is the size of at least two school buses, lands on someone’s home or on a kindergarten?”
The official added, “If we shoot it down, the balloon and the equipment on board will plunge to earth at meteoric speed.”
This is a brazen violation of our sovereignty and national security. We shouldn’t be too surprised since this is the same regime that allows millions of illegal aliens to invade across our borders.
The ChiComs know that Biden and his military hierarchy are impotent pussies.
This is just another sign of Chinese aggression that will go unpunished. Besides, Beijing is the Biden Family’s financial benefactor.
Related articles:
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3851174-chinese-balloon-had-antennas-solar-panels-reports/
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/cruz-reveals-secret-briefings-said-chinese-spy-balloons-trump-hundreds-classified-briefings
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/treason-rep-waltz-says-dod-told-china-spy-balloons-crossed-us-trump-years-gen-mattis-not-tell-trump-thought/
https://resistthemainstream.com/an-explanation-for-why-trump-never-shot-down-chinese-spy-balloons-emerges/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-top-national-security-officials-refute-claim-chinese-spy-balloons-transited-us-under-last-admin
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chinese-spy-balloons-over-us-during-trump-admin-discovered-after-he-left-office-senior-biden-official
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lawmakers-react-chinese-spy-balloon-shot-disastrous-projection-weakness
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-rip-biden-after-chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down-our-enemies-used-to-fear-us
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/faa-ground-stop-chinese-spy-balloon-shootdown-results-massive-flight-radar-gap-south-carolina-coast
Related post:
https://sfcmac.com/the-biden-familys-financial-ties-to-the-chicoms/