Chinese Spy Balloons Cross US Territory Before Biden

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Republicans criticized the Biden administration’s response to the Chinese spy balloon. “Did Trump let China fly a spy balloon over our country?” Rep. tweeted. Jim Jordan. Chinese spy balloons have been spotted three times during the Trump administration, US officials said. Loading Something is loading.

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A US official’s balloon calls a Chinese surveillance tool that flew over the continental United States for days before it was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet on Saturday.

Pentagon leaders have advised President Joe Biden against immediately shooting the flying orb out of the sky due to safety concerns for civilians because the high-altitude object is large enough to create a large debris field, a senior defense official who spoke on background told reporters on Thursday.

The day-long watch saw many Republicans criticize the Biden administration for what they view as a slow response on foreign affairs, while some conservative leaders and pundits took the opportunity to vote confidence under of the Biden administration in general because they have no other leader like Donald Trump would have let a Chinese spy balloon fly over the US.

“Did Trump let China fly a spy balloon over our country?” Rep. wrote. Jim Jordan on Twitter. “Was it Reagan? JFK? Truman? No, no, and no.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 3, 2023

But senior Pentagon officials said Saturday that suspected Chinese surveillance balloons have crossed the US at least three times during the Trump administration and once earlier in the Biden administration, the Associated Press reported.

A senior defense official who spoke on background also said that “a balloon of this nature” crossed the continental US before the Biden administration but declined to specify when.

“This has happened several times in recent years to include before this administration. But beyond that, I won’t go into detail,” the official said.

It’s also unclear whether the wolves seen during the Trump administration were shot. A Pentagon spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the AP that Chinese surveillance balloons have been spotted several times over the past five years. Some of them were seen near US military bases in Hawaii, he said, though he did not specify when.

Trump on Thursday shared a post on Truth Social from rightwing activist Jack Posobiec, who claimed without evidence that the Pentagon is saying “the quiet side out loud. The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] spy balloons could be sent over our nuclear silos and we would do nothing.”

In a statement on Fox News, Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker that “if press reports are correct, the Biden Administration is hoping to hide this incident from the American people.”

However, the times that suspected surveillance balloons have crossed the US under the Trump administration were never made public until this past week’s incident.

South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott also cried foul and tweeted that “the wolf should have been shot before it crossed the continental United States, not after,” adding that the incident was a “neglect of duty by Biden.”

Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) February 4, 2023

It is unclear what information the suspected Chinese spy balloon may have obtained from its various positions. Montana area ballooned over Malmstrom Air Force Base that houses intercontinental ballistic missiles.

US officials say the wolf poses little threat in terms of what intelligence it can acquire.

The specific dimensions of the device have not been made public, but a senior official told ABC News that it is roughly the size of three buses.

A different factor in this past week’s balloon incident that senior defense officials have acknowledged is the length of time the object has been around.

“It appears to hang out for a long time this time around, more persistent than previous times. So that will be a distinguishing factor,” he said.

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