In order to solve a problem, the first step is to acknowledge that you have one.
For the Biden administration, that means admitting that China is an enemy of the United States. Yet despite the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s affront to American sovereignty via spy balloons — and other intrusions — Vice President Kamala Harris still views the Red Dragon as a respected challenger of the U.S. instead of as the geopolitical threat that it is.
On Wednesday, POLITICO released an interview with Harris in which the veep claimed that American relations with China are not hampered by the events of the last several weeks.
&#8220;I don’t think so, no,” Harris <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/15/harris-on-china-balloon-00082928" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> POLITICO when asked if the White House diplomatic strategy with the CCP has changed at all.
She added, &#8220;Everything that has happened in the last week and a half is, we believe, very consistent with our stated approach.&#8221;
If the stated approach is to let China walk all over the U.S., then sure that remark makes sense. It also appears that Biden&#8217;s tactic is to appease our adversaries. Harris told the Northern Virginia-based magazine,  &#8220;We seek competition, but not conflict or confrontation&#8221; with China.
In reaction to the story, Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) tweeted, &#8220;This sums up everything that is wrong with this administration in a nutshell. They will never devise an adequate strategy to deal with China because they don’t even realize the problem.&#8221;
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This sums up everything that is wrong with this administration in a nutshell. They will never devise an adequate strategy to deal with China because they don’t even realize the problem. <a href="https://t.co/8VewOap1A7">https://t.co/8VewOap1A7</a>
&mdash; Congressman Nick Langworthy (@RepLangworthy) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepLangworthy/status/1625873393386942464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Langworthy is not alone in his concerns.
Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) have also been sounding the alarm about China in recent weeks. Both gentlemen fail to understand why the U.S. is supporting an endless war without a clear path for outright victory in Ukraine while China is barking at America&#8217;s gates.
In late January, Vance <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/01/26/j-d-vance-aid-to-ukraine-comes-at-expense-of-combatting-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the media that the extent of U.S. support for the Eastern European nation could cost us against China in the long haul.
&#8220;We have sent so much of our munitions down, so much of our military-grade equipment down, if we have to fight a war against China – which I think is far more likely and, frankly, it’s a far more dangerous opponent – that’s what worries me, is that the focus on Russia comes at the expense of China,&#8221; he said.
The freshman senator also claimed that the U.S. right now cannot afford to fight two enemies at once.
&#8220;Unfortunately, we cannot fight two enemies at once, and whether we fight the Chinese – God forbid, directly, or indirectly – down the road over the next 20 or 30 years, we need to focus where the real problem is,&#8221; he added. &#8220;In my view that’s China.&#8221;
Hawley likewise argued that China is taking such emboldened actions because they understand that Biden is not as strong as previous presidents.
&#8220;Now #China is OPENLY spying on us and the Biden Admin does nothing,&#8221; Hawley tweeted after the foreign nation confirmed the spy balloon belonged to them. &#8220;China is trolling us. They know Biden is weak.&#8221;
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Now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#China</a> is OPENLY spying on us and the Biden Admin does nothing. China is trolling us. They know Biden is weak <a href="https://t.co/FCfdOBHNZb">https://t.co/FCfdOBHNZb</a>
&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1621512491615539203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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As recently pointed out by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), it is not just in the air that China is exposing America&#8217;s failure to protect its borders, but on the ground as well. As The Daily Wire has previously reported, nearly 100% of the chemicals used to create fentanyl are shipped to Mexico from China. Under Biden, border authorities have only been able to stop <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-america-chinese-spy-balloons-in-the-sky-chinese-fentanyl-on-the-ground" target="_blank" rel="noopener">between 5%-10% of those drugs</a> from coming into the country. In turn, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from the narcotic.
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Republicans recognize Communist China as the enemy and threat that it is to our American way of life. 
Joe Biden would rather play footsy with Xi Jinping. <a href="https://t.co/uhI9N7NMpx">pic.twitter.com/uhI9N7NMpx</a>
&mdash; Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Banks/status/1624826587605528579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Why would the administration want to cooperate with a regime that is playing a key role in killing Americans and enriching the drug cartels?
One almost hopes the answer to that question is corruption, that somehow Biden and other actors are benefitting financially from China (ex: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-we-got-here-bidens-think-tank-and-how-it-sought-to-advance-the-world-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Penn-Biden Center</a>, Hunter&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/collections/the-hunter-biden-files" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illustrious business career</a>).
If it is not wrongdoing for personal gain guiding policy, then the administration must be adopting such a strategy out of pure incompetence.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-enemies-have-a-best-friend-in-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America’s Enemies Have A Best Friend In Biden</a>

Kamala Harris, Joe Biden

‘We Seek Competition’: Kamala Harris Claims Chinese Spy Balloon Doesn’t Impact Relations With Communist Country

'We Seek Competition': Kamala Harris Claims Chinese Spy Balloon Doesn't Impact Relations With Communist Country

China

Foreign Policy

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

Spying

U.S.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded this week to President Joe Biden&#8217;s decision to shoot down multiple unidentified objects over North American airspace last weekend after allowing a Chinese spy balloon to travel across the U.S. by saying the president &#8220;finally grew a pair.&#8221;
Cruz&#8217;s remarks come after the U.S. military shot down an unidentified object off the coast of Alaska on Friday, another flying over Canada on Saturday, and a third one over Lake Huron on Sunday.
Cruz said on his podcast &#8220;Verdict&#8221; that the Biden administration tried to spin the news coverage of the Chinese spy balloon two weeks ago by claiming that spy balloons flew over the U.S. during the Trump administration, and that the Trump administration did not know about it.
&#8220;What&#8217;s changed? Well, we&#8217;ve seen now three shot and shot down in a row,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;The biggest thing that&#8217;s changed is I think they had so much egg on their face for sitting there for over a week and doing nothing that they finally grew a pair and said, &#8216;we’re gonna shoot them down.&#8217;”
Later in the podcast, Cruz complimented Biden for his response to the downed second, third, and fourth unidentified objects.
“Well, let me do something I don&#8217;t do very often on this podcast, which is praise Joe Biden,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;The reaction to the first balloon was incredibly weak and ineffective. But the second, third, and fourth one&#8211;thank God &#8212;like, this is exactly what you should be doing. If you&#8217;re flying over our airspace, we&#8217;re gonna shoot you down! I&#8217;m glad of that. It took a while. They had to get embarrassed and shamed into it. But they got to the right outcome. And so that&#8217;s good. I am glad of that. This is a deterrent.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-details-emerge-about-unidentified-object-that-u-s-military-shot-down-over-lake-huron">New Details Emerge About Unidentified Object That U.S. Military Shot Down Over Lake Huron</a>

Senator Ted Cruz speaks during CPAC (Conservative Political

Cruz Reacts To Biden Shooting Down Multiple Unidentified Objects: He ‘Finally Grew A Pair’

Cruz Reacts To Biden Shooting Down Multiple Unidentified Objects: He 'Finally Grew A Pair'

Balloon

Congress

Executive

National Security

Politics

Ted Cruz

The U.S. disputed accusations from China on Monday after the communist nation claimed that the U.S. operates spy balloons over its country.
China&#8217;s allegation comes after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina and has since downed unidentified objects over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron over the weekend.
“It is also common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claimed. “Since last year, U.S. high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China’s airspace more than 10 times without the approval of Chinese authorities.”
The Associated Press noted that Wang offered no details to substantiate his accusations and would not say how the alleged incursions happened or if they were connected to the U.S. government.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that the communist nation&#8217;s claims were a lie and that China was trying to deflect from the embarrassing situation they have caused.
“It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, connected to the People’s Liberation Army, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the United States and over 40 countries across five continents,” Watson tweeted.
“This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others.”
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This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control. It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the US was a weather balloon and has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace, airspace of others.
&mdash; Adrienne Watson (@NSC_Spox) <a href="https://twitter.com/NSC_Spox/status/1625105964239056897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The National Security Council’s John Kirby flatly denied China&#8217;s claims during an interview Monday morning on MSNBC.
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&quot;We are not flying balloons over China.&quot;
National Security Council’s John Kirby unequivocally denies Beijing’s claim that the U.S. has flown its own spy balloons over China <a href="https://t.co/w0JONCtAWB">https://t.co/w0JONCtAWB</a> <a href="https://t.co/57LeHFeSXc">pic.twitter.com/57LeHFeSXc</a>
&mdash; Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) <a href="https://twitter.com/Morning_Joe/status/1625161379689766912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The U.S. government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-takes-action-against-chinese-companies-linked-to-spy-balloon-program">responded</a> to the Chinese spy balloon by sanctioning six Chinese aerospace companies over their purported involvement in the country’s spy balloon program.
The Commerce Department announced the sanctions on Friday, less than a week after the Air Force shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean that had traversed the continental U.S.
“The PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] use of high-altitude balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens U.S. national security,” Alan Estevez, undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said in a statement. “Today’s action makes clear that entities that seek to harm U.S. national security and sovereignty will be cut off from accessing U.S. technologies.”
The six Chinese entities in question will be placed on the Entity List, where trade restrictions are placed on companies that have been determined to jeopardize national security by the Commerce Department.
The Chinese entities in question are Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute, Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology, Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, and Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Meets Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping

U.S. Reveals Extent Of Chinese Spy Balloon Program, Says It’s ‘False’ That U.S. Does The Same To China

U.S. Reveals Extent Of Chinese Spy Balloon Program, Says It's 'False' That U.S. Does The Same To China

Communist China

Global Politics

John Kirby

World

New details emerged over the weekend about the unidentified object that the U.S. military shot down on Friday several miles off the coast of Alaska.
The new information comes after the U.S. military shot down an object with a “cylindrical shape” that was about the size of a small car, according to U.S. officials. The object did not appear to have any “observable surveillance equipment.”
“We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose or origin,” said Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. “The object was about the size of a small car, so not similar in size or shape to the high-altitude surveillance balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina.”
Accounts from pilots of the F-35 fighter jets that were sent to intercept the object varied, according to CNN.
U.S. officials said that the jets observed the object on Thursday night and on Friday morning before shooting it down and were only able to report back &#8220;limited&#8221; information about what they saw.
Some of the pilots reported that the object “interfered with their sensors” on their planes, the report said.
Others said that they saw no propulsion system on the object and could not explain how it was staying in the air and flying at 40,000 feet.
CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper asked House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) about the reports during an interview Sunday on the network&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; show.
&#8220;At this point, they are just reports, so we will have to wait until we get the final information,&#8221; Turner said. &#8220;But because this thing was shot down, we have an ability to do the forensics, to do the exploitation of it when it&#8217;s found. And that will answer a lot of our questions. And, also, getting the data from the various planes, their sensors, what they actually were seeing or not seeing, in addition to what the pilots saw, will be really important.&#8221;
Turner said that the biggest development to come from the recent interactions with foreign objects entering U.S. airspace is that it &#8220;is time for the United States to take this as a turning point to invest.&#8221;
&#8220;We need more sophisticated radar systems. We have them. We just don&#8217;t have them deployed to protect high over the United States,&#8221; he said. &#8220;An integrated missile defense system &#8212; we have helped invest in Israel having an integrated missile defense system. We don&#8217;t have one ourselves.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-intel-chairman-mike-turner-the-u-s-has-holes-in-homeland-defense-infrastructure-that-need-fixing">House Intel Chairman Mike Turner: The U.S. Has Holes In Homeland Defense Infrastructure That Need Fixing</a>

F-35

New Details Emerge About The Object Shot Down Over Alaska: Report

Air &amp; Space

Alaska

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said that the investigation into a potential object detected over the state of Montana Saturday night is ongoing and that there may still be something there.
Tester, Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, made the remarks during a Sunday appearance on CBS News&#8217;s &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; with host Margaret Brennan.
&#8220;The investigation is still going on as we speak,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The truth is, is that there was an anomaly, and they&#8217;ve investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn&#8217;t fully check it out. I&#8217;m sure as we speak, it&#8217;s being checked out right now.&#8221;
&#8220;There may still be something out there,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It may be a false alarm.&#8221;
Tester said that there may have been damage done to U.S. national security because of President Joe Biden&#8217;s decision to allow a suspected Chinese spy balloon to traverse the nation before ordering it shot down off the Carolina coast last weekend.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve got ICBMs in Montana, we got 150 of them, Malmstrom Air Force Base is an incredible deterrent for this country and has been since the early 60s,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The military made an assessment that they wouldn&#8217;t be able to gather the information that the military thought was important to China. And if that didn&#8217;t happen that way, somebody screwed up.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Tester says radar anomaly over Montana may be another object" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7_A1WhMYD5o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning, and welcome to Face The Nation. As we come on the air, the big question in our minds today is what is going on here with what seemed like a deluge of potential incursions? What are these objects? Where are they coming from? What is their purpose? And are we experiencing an increase of the so-called unidentified aerial objects? Or are we just looking for them more carefully following the Chinese spy balloon event? We will do our best to try and get some of those questions answered today. We are going to begin with Montana Senator Jon Tester. Good morning to you, Senator.
SEN. JON TESTER: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, late Saturday, NORAD and NORTHCOM said there was a radar anomaly over your state, which is why airspace was closed. Was it a false alarm? Or is there an object over Montana?
SEN. TESTER: Well, I think the investigation is still going on as we speak. The truth is is that there was an anomaly, and they&#8217;ve investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn&#8217;t fully check it out. I&#8217;m sure as we speak, it&#8217;s being checked out right now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So it hasn&#8217;t been ruled out. There may still be something up there.
SEN. TESTER: Absolutely. There may still be something out there. It may be a false alarm.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is the policy now to shoot down any unidentified object?
SEN. TESTER: Well, I think that&#8217;s a very, very good question, and that&#8217;s a better question for General Milley. But the truth of the matter is, is that they need to have a policy, they being the military, needs to have a policy to recommend to the president. It&#8217;s something that as- as Chairman of the Defense Committee and Ranking Member Collins, we&#8217;ve already talked about this. We&#8217;re going to make sure that there is a plan. We&#8217;re going to make sure if that plan needs to be funded that it gets funded. This is- what&#8217;s gone on in the last, you know, two weeks or so, 10 days, has been nothing short of craziness. And the military needs to have a plan to not only determine what&#8217;s out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you don&#8217;t know what will happen to this object over Montana.
SEN. TESTER: My guess is it&#8217;ll get shot down. But the military will make an assessment as to potential collateral damage just like they did on the Chinese balloon.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you have spent time, as I understand it, with General Milley&#8211;
SEN. TESTER: I have.
MARGARET BRENNAN: &#8211;the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and other DoD officials. Could he share with you anything about this mysterious object that was cylindrical and floating over Canada? Or the car sized one over Alaska?
SEN. TESTER: Well, I think you&#8217;ve got what he shared with me at that moment in time, and that they had done an assessment of it and determined that it was unmanned and determined that it should be shot down because they weren&#8217;t absolutely positive that it was of no threat.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the object over Alaska was near Prudhoe Bay, which is one of the most important energy fields in this country.
SEN. TESTER: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that sound to you like it&#8217;s espionage, state driven espionage?
SEN. TESTER: Well, look, I don&#8217;t think things happen by mistake when it comes to China.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You think this was China?
SEN. TESTER: I don&#8217;t know. I don&#8217;t know that it&#8217;s China. We will find out later on, if in fact, it was affiliated with the Chinese Communist government or not. But- but the bottom line is, is that I think we need to take these things seriously. I think the President and I think more importantly, the military are taking the- very, very seriously. And- and to back that up, I think through the appropriations process and the Defense Committee, we&#8217;re going to make sure that they&#8217;re taking it seriously. So the checks and balances will be there as we move forward. But this is, like I said, this has been a phenomenon that we haven&#8217;t had recently, where we&#8217;ve had other countries that have went into our airspace for the purpose of trying to gather information on what we&#8217;re doing here in the United States.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said, and you underscored your key role in helping to determine the budget there for the Pentagon&#8211;
SEN. TESTER: Yeah.
MARGARET BRENNAN: &#8211;that you don&#8217;t remember hearing anything that dealt with balloons. How long has the military actually been tracking this?
SEN. TESTER: Well, I mean, that&#8217;s a better question for the military. From my perspective&#8211;
MARGARET BRENNAN: but they weren&#8217;t sharing this with Congress&#8211;
SEN. TESTER: They weren&#8217;t sharing it with me. And so I can&#8217;t say what their awareness was over the last 10 years. But- but obviously, there was some awareness, but whether it was up to where it needed to be that&#8217;s- that&#8217;s a debate that Congress needs to have and questions that need to be answered by our- our military leadership.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You were very critical, you made that very clear and were plain spoken about the fact that administration didn&#8217;t shoot down the confirmed Chinese spy balloon over the state of Montana. And you wanted it shot down as soon as it was in U.S. airspace. Has your view changed at all after you&#8217;ve been briefed?
SEN. TESTER: Yeah, well, so initially, I was very much for shooting it down when it was over the Aleutians. I think what transpired was is that the military took assessments as to potential collateral damage and the threat of this balloon, and you know, we pay these folks good money to make sure we keep our nation safe, and I respect their view and the president followed that. Going on in the future, I think there needs to be a plan that&#8217;s right up front. So we know exactly what&#8217;s going to happen when these balloons come in and their threat is assessed, what&#8217;s going to happen. But- but look, we- I got briefed, both in open session and a classified session and quite honestly, the military and intelligence community&#8217;s explanation of what transpired with that balloon, I accept. Is it something that I would have done right out right out of the chute? No. I would have probably done a different, but that&#8217;s not saying that I&#8217;m right or I&#8217;m wrong or they&#8217;re right or they&#8217;re wrong. In the end, we ended up with a balloon that they&#8217;ve recovered, and they&#8217;re going to take and put it back together and reverse engineer it and we&#8217;ll find out what they&#8217;re up to, plus the information that was gathered while it came across the United States.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So I hear you say there&#8217;s value in the that intelligence.
SEN. TESTER: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But in terms of of damage, according to what was declassified the Chinese balloon could intercept signals intelligence, it could pick up chatter, it hovered over some pretty key states, locations in your state, including one that houses excuse me, 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
SEN. TESTER: No doubt about that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Was there damage done?
SEN. TESTER: No doubt about that, and there better not have been damage done, or it makes my case for shooting the doggone thing down over the Aleutian Islands. Look, we&#8217;ve got ICBMs in Montana, we got 150 of them, Malmstrom Air Force Base is an incredible deterrent for this country and has been since the early 60s. They- the military made an assessment that they wouldn&#8217;t be able to gather the information that-that the military thought was important to China. And if that didn&#8217;t happen that way, somebody screwed up.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You on the issue of China. According to the federal government, 3% of the nation&#8217;s farmland is owned by foreign investors. You have recently introduced a bill to try to restrict foreign ownership of farmland. I know this is an issue in a number of farming states. Why do you think that needs to be a federal ban on foreign ownership?
SEN. TESTER: Well, look, I&#8217;m a farmer. I&#8217;ve been farming my grandparents&#8217; land at the homestead, and I think it&#8217;s really important for food security. The folks- this is a ban against China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, folks who don&#8217;t want to see us exist anymore as a nation. I don&#8217;t think they should have any opportunity to try to dictate our food supply or–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Any Chinese owned company, right?
SEN. TESTER: Right, period done. Because they&#8217;re all connected with the Communist Chinese government anyway. And so I think it&#8217;s a reasonable step to take. Senator Rounds out of South Dakota does too. So it&#8217;s bipartisan. And I think we should do it as a matter of course, and I&#8217;m all about private property rights. I think people ought to be able to sell who they want to sell to, but not in this particular case because China wants to do bad things to us. Same thing with North Korea, Russia and Iran. So let&#8217;s- let&#8217;s take that off the table, both in farmland and in agri-businesses I think, I think it&#8217;d be a mistake, a really a mistake for national security and for food security.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Tester, thank you for your time.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-closes-airspace-over-montana-after-unidentified-object-discovered">U.S. Closes Airspace Over Montana After Unidentified Object Discovered</a>

Jon Tester

Sen. Jon Tester On Probe Into Potential Object Detected Over Montana: ‘May Still Be Something Out There’

Sen. Jon Tester On Probe Into Potential Object Detected Over Montana: 'May Still Be Something Out There'

Montana

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) revealed the extent of the damage that President Joe Biden caused the United States by allowing a Chinese spy balloon to travel over the country before shooting it down over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
McCaul made the remarks on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; with host Margaret Brennan while addressing the multiple unidentified objects that have been shot down after entering North American airspace over the last two weeks.
McCaul said that one of his top priorities is to stop the export of technology to China that can be used by their military and spy agencies.
&#8220;In this case, a sophisticated spy balloon that went across three nuclear sites, I think it&#8217;s important to say, in plain view of the American people,&#8221; he said. &#8220;In Montana, the triad site, air, land, and sea nuclear weapons, in Omaha, the spy balloon went over our Strategic Command, which is our most sensitive nuclear site. It was so sensitive that President [George W.] Bush was taken there after 9/11. And then finally, Missouri, the B-2 bomber, that&#8217;s where they are placed. It did a lot of damage.&#8221;
McCaul said that the Chinese flying a surveillance balloon over those sites caused &#8220;great damage&#8221; to U.S. national security because the communist nation is able to gather much more detailed images and intelligence than they can from a satellite.
&#8220;It was done with provocation to gather intelligence data, and collect intelligence on our three major nuclear sites in this country,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Why? Because they&#8217;re looking at what- what is our capability in the event of a possible future conflict in Taiwan. They&#8217;re really assessing what we have in this country.&#8221;
WATCH:
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While the White House says it mitigated the damage of the Chinese spy balloon that passed over several sensitive U.S. military sites, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Cmte. <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMcCaul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepMcCaul</a> disagrees.
“Going over those sites, in my judgment, would cause great damage.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/l9CHkIHy9l">pic.twitter.com/l9CHkIHy9l</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1624799793607319553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Congressman Michael McCaul. He is the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Good morning to you.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL: Morning, Margaret. Thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to start on this unusual activity, three takedowns in eight days. In the case of the spy balloon, this was Chinese surveillance, according to the administration. On Friday, they put restrictions on six Chinese companies that allegedly helped China&#8217;s military build that balloon. Is this the right move to just try to make it harder for them to get U.S. technology? Or does Congress need to do something that&#8217;s more broad?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, it&#8217;s certainly the right move. It will be one of my number one priorities as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in this Congress, to stop the export of technology to China that then goes into their most advanced weapons systems. In this case, a sophisticated spy balloon that went across three nuclear sites, I think it&#8217;s important to say, in plain view of the American people. You know, in Montana, the triad site, air, land, and sea nuclear weapons, in Omaha, the spy balloon went over our Strategic Command, which is our most sensitive nuclear site. It was so sensitive that President Bush was taken there after 9/11. And then finally, Missouri, the B-2 bomber, that&#8217;s where they are placed. It did a lot of damage.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that what U.S. intelligence told you? They have been saying they mitigated the impact.
REP. MCCAUL: They say they mitigated it but my assessment, and- and I can&#8217;t get into the detail the intelligence document, is that if it was still transmitting going over these three very sensitive nuclear sites, I think- I think if you look at the flight pattern of the balloon, it tells a story as to what the Chinese were up to as they controlled this aircraft throughout the United States. Going over those sites, in my judgment, would cause great damage. Remember, a balloon could see a lot more on the ground than a satellite.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you said you want to try to stop the export of technology that can be used by China&#8217;s military. As a conservative though, how much- this has to make you a little uncomfortable to have government try to control private business investment. How do you do that?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, we have what&#8217;s called an entity&#8217;s list, the Department of Commerce had jurisdiction over the office within their- the Department of Defense has one. We need to harmonize those, make it more security focused. You know, capital flows is one issue, but technology exports into China that they use to turn- that maybe eventually turn against us. We have to stop doing that. And I think we can do it by sectors, they do by companies now. Obviously, they identified the six. I think shockingly, when the balloon was recovered, it had American-made component parts in there with English on that. It was made- you know, parts made in America, that were put on a spy balloon from China. I don&#8217;t think the American people accept that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you believe that this was a strategic choice by Xi Jinping&#8217;s government in Beijing, or do you believe that it was just the left and right hand not knowing what was going on?
REP. MCCAUL: When I saw the sites that it was flying over, it was very clear to me this was an intentional act. It was done with provocation to gather intelligence data, and collect intelligence on our three major nuclear sites in this country. Why? Because they&#8217;re looking at what- what is our capability in the event of a possible future conflict in Taiwan. They&#8217;re really assessing what we have in this country. I find it extraordinary the timing of this flight as well, you know, right before the State of the Union speech, and also, you know, right before Secretary Blinken was scheduled to meet with Chairman Xi. I think it was very much an act of belligerence on their part and perhaps they don&#8217;t care what- what the American people think about that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, I want to ask you, you voted in the last Congress to provide a lot of assistance to Ukraine, but this past week, at least 10 of your members Republican members introduced a bill called the Ukraine Fatigue Resolution to try to cut off aid. How hard is it going to be to have a Republican-led house continue to help Ukraine?
REP. MCCAUL: I still believe Margaret, there are many on both sides of the aisle, a majority of the majorities, in support of this. We have- we have factions on the left and right, that do not support Ukraine&#8211;
MARGARET BRENNAN: This is a Republican bill.
REP. MCCAUL: &#8211;and that will probably continue. Right, and I do think, for me, particularly, it&#8217;s- we have to educate, where has the money gone. You know, the audits that are in place right now, there are four of them on Ukraine funding. And we have to explain why is Ukraine so important. You know, what happens in Ukraine impacts Taiwan and Chairman Xi, that China&#8217;s aligned with Russia, Iran and North Korea, against freedom, democracy in the West. And, you know, I think that&#8217;s a debate we&#8217;ll have, but I still feel very confident that we will give them the assistance they need. I&#8217;d like to see it faster, so they can win this faster.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you- you think Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, others who signed this, need to be educated?
REP. MCCAUL: You know, look, we took Marjorie Taylor Greene into a briefing. She was satisfied, I thought, with what- the controls that have been put in place on the spending, but I don&#8217;t think that they will be- ever be persuaded that this cause is something that they would support. I think they have this false dichotomy that somehow we can&#8217;t help Ukraine, you know, beat back the Russians who invaded their country, and- and secure the border. We can do both. We&#8217;re a great nation. And the fact of the matter is, unfortunately, this administration has chosen not to secure the border. He can&#8217;t even control and secure our airspace now, it looks like.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman McCaul, thank you for your time today.
REP. MCCAUL: Thanks, Margaret. Thanks for having me.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-military-unable-to-find-alleged-object-that-caused-faa-to-close-airspace-in-montana">U.S. Military Unable To Find Alleged Object That Caused FAA To Close Airspace In Montana</a>

Screen Shot 2023-02-12 at 11.46.14 AM

Foreign Affairs Chairman Reveals How Much ‘Damage’ Biden Caused By Letting Spy Balloon Fly Over Nation

Foreign Affairs Chairman Reveals How Much 'Damage' Biden Caused By Letting Spy Balloon Fly Over Nation

Face The Nation

Michael McCaul

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said in an interview Sunday that the U.S. has holes in its homeland defense infrastructure that have been exposed by the recent incursions of foreign objects into U.S. airspace.
Turner told CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper on &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; that he believes President Joe Biden has turned &#8220;trigger-happy&#8221; after receiving intense criticism for allowing a suspected Chinese spy balloon to cross the entire country before shooting it down.
&#8220;I would prefer them to be trigger-happy than to be permissive. But we&#8217;re going to have to see whether or not this is just the administration trying to change headlines,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But what I think this shows, which is probably more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we&#8217;re going to defend our airspace.&#8221;
&#8220;And then we need to invest. What&#8217;s become clear in the public discussion is that we don&#8217;t really have adequate radar systems,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We certainly don&#8217;t have an integrated missile defense system. We&#8217;re going to have to begin to look at the United States&#8217; airspace as one that we need to defend and that we need to have appropriate sensors to do so.&#8221;
Turner said that these recent incidents have exposed &#8220;problems and gaps that we have&#8221; that need to be fixed &#8220;as soon as possible, because we certainly now ascertain there is a threat.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;I would prefer [the Biden administration] to be trigger happy than to be permissive.&quot;
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) speaks to <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaketapper</a> about US fighter jets shooting down a third flying object in just over a week. <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSotu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNNSotu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CNNSOTU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CNNSOTU</a> <a href="https://t.co/sG3F78DVyZ">pic.twitter.com/sG3F78DVyZ</a>
&mdash; CNN (@CNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1624776139226124288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Chairman Turner, thanks so much for joining us.
What can you tell us? What were the second and third objects that the military shot down, and where did they come from?
REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Yes, well, I certainly don&#8217;t know, as the administration is saying they don&#8217;t know.
They do appear somewhat trigger-happy, although this is certainly preferable to the permissive environment that they showed when the Chinese spy balloon was coming over some of our most sensitive sites.
I think one thing that this shows is certainly the fallacy of the argument of the Biden administration saying that the height of the Chinese balloon caused them to have no concern, because certainly, as we know, whatever goes up can come down.
And just saying that this Chinese spy balloon was high and these are lower, and, therefore, they actually pose a hazard really isn&#8217;t a&#8230;
TAPPER: Are you&#8230;
TURNER: &#8230; anybody is comfortable with.
TAPPER: Are you glad that they were &#8212; that they shot down these two objects? Because, obviously, you and other Republicans were critical for the Biden &#8212; that the Biden team took as long as they did to shoot down the object that was clearly a Chinese spy balloon?
TURNER: Sure. As I was saying, I would prefer them to be trigger- happy than to be permissive. But we&#8217;re going to have to see whether or not this is just the administration trying to change headlines. But what I think this shows, which is probably more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we&#8217;re going to defend our airspace.
And then we need to invest. What&#8217;s become clear in the public discussion is that we don&#8217;t really have adequate radar systems. We certainly don&#8217;t have an integrated missile defense system. We&#8217;re going to have to begin to look at the United States&#8217; airspace as one that we need to defend and that we need to have appropriate sensors to do so.
This shows some of the problems and gaps that we have. We need to fill those as soon as possible, because we certainly now ascertain there is a threat.
TAPPER: Do you think the second and third objects shot down Friday and Saturday were spying on America and Canada? Is it possible they were just weather balloons or something else that was &#8212; that&#8217;s benign?
TURNER: Yes, it was interesting.
When the Department of Defense gave in its first statement on this, if you notice, there was a word slipped in there that you certainly didn&#8217;t hear when the Chinese spy balloon was over the United States. And that&#8217;s the word corporate of origin.
So, even the Department of Defense is saying a very broad net as to what these things might be. But it shows a renewed interest and a renewed dedication to defending United States airspace. Certainly, the United States, this administration now needs to declare that it will defend its airspace, which, of course, is going to be difficult for an administration that has difficulty controlling the ground sovereignty to declare air sovereignty.
But we need to do so.
TAPPER: When do you expect to get briefed again, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee?
TURNER: You know, this is particularly annoying about this administration.
The Biden administration needs to stop briefing Congress through our television sets and actually come and sit down and brief us. What we&#8217;re seeing here is a number of announcements by the administration without any real information being given to Congress.
This could be because they don&#8217;t have any information. From the press conference we saw, it does seem like they took this action without a real understanding for what they were going after, but having declared it a hazard. But we will see as the information comes to Congress. But I do think that there needs to be more engagement between the administration and Congress. Probably, they&#8217;re a little hesitant after the Chinese balloon fiasco, where they let it go across the country, to great criticism, bipartisan and bicameral criticism, from Congress.
TAPPER: Have objects like these always been moving in and out of U.S. airspace, and we&#8217;re just now learning about them with new technology, and shooting them down, or do you think this is a new, recent development?
TURNER: I think it&#8217;s certainly a new, recent development that you have China being so aggressive in entering other countries&#8217; airspace, and doing so for clear intentions to spy with very sophisticated equipment.
I mean, the very scale of this balloon and of the technology that was deployed by China in spying on the United States is unprecedented. No other nation has anything like it and no other nation has attempted it. But, certainly, there are things at times that come and go from our airspace that we track, that we try to determine if it&#8217;s going to be a threat that don&#8217;t rise to the level of the very large, sophisticated Chinese spy balloon.
TAPPER: A source briefed on the intelligence said that some of the pilots said the object interfered with their sensors on the plane.
I think this is the second object shot down over Alaska on Friday, interfered with their sensors. Not all of the pilots reported that, but some did. Some pilots also claimed to have seen no identifiable propulsion on the object and could not explain how it was even staying in the air.
What do you make of those reports?
TURNER: Well, at this point, they are just reports, so we will have to wait until we get the final information.
But because this thing was shot down, we have an ability to do the forensics, to do the exploitation of it when it&#8217;s found. And that will answer a lot of our questions. And, also, getting the data from the various planes, their sensors, what they actually were seeing or not seeing, in addition to what the pilots saw, will be really important.
But there&#8217;s going to be a number of questions to answer here. The big point is that this is time for the United States to take this as a turning point to invest. We need more sophisticated radar systems. We have them. We just don&#8217;t have them deployed to protect high over the United States.
An integrated missile defense system &#8212; we have helped invest in Israel having an integrated missile defense system. We don&#8217;t have one ourselves. This is a turning point where we need to discuss, this is a threat, and how do we respond to it?
TAPPER: Let&#8217;s turn to talk about the latest in the classified documents investigation. We just learned that, last month, former President Trump&#8217;s team
apparently turned over more classified records from Mar-a-Lago, including a laptop and thumb drive with classified pages that had been uploaded by an aide from Trump&#8217;s political action committee.
You&#8217;re the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Is this acceptable to you? And are you worried that an outside aide from Trump&#8217;s political action committee had possession of these documents?
TURNER: Yes, I just don&#8217;t get this, Jake. I don&#8217;t get it with Biden, Pence or Trump. All of them keep finding documents that are classified, stuffed places.
I just &#8212; I have no understanding of it. I can tell you that members of Congress who, like me, deal with highly classified information in the Intelligence Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, we&#8217;re all just stumped. We don&#8217;t understand how this could be happening. We don&#8217;t understand how all three could have been so lackadaisical about this.
These are incredibly important documents. They are not to be taken lightly. And we&#8217;re just amazed as people keep finding them stuffed in the strangest places like behind Biden&#8217;s Corvette. This is &#8212; this is clearly a failure of an understanding of how to handle the importance of these documents.
There&#8217;s legislation now that have been dropped in Congress that will make it even more difficult and give different penalties to be able to enforce mishandling classified documents. It&#8217;s all coming from just &#8212; people are just shocked.
TAPPER: I want to ask you before you go. Russia just launched yet another major amount of missiles into Ukraine on Friday, its first major assault in weeks, as President Zelenskyy is still pleading with the U.S. for more help.
And yet, at the same time, almost a day as one of your fellow House Republicans issued &#8212; introduced a resolution to halt any more military or financial help for Ukraine.
What do you say to those individuals in the House Republican Conference? And are you worried at all that this marks the beginning of the end of U.S. support for Ukraine?
TURNER: Yes, as you know, both on the left &#8212; the left, the Democrat sent a letter, 20 people, saying that we should immediately negotiate a settlement and then withdrew it.
Putin still hears it, even though it&#8217;s withdrawn. And then you have the far right saying the same thing. But, luckily, they &#8212; they do not add up to the majority of Congress. The majority of Congress understands that this is crucial. We are fighting on the front lines of democracy. The fact that Zelenskyy has been &#8212; as president, they &#8212; will rally his country to fight against Russia, and we have been able to arm them, it is really unprecedented that a nation like that could stand to a superpower like Russia. But they&#8217;re doing so with the commitment to keep the sovereignty of their nation.
And Russia&#8217;s atrocities are just appalling. Anyone who sees what Russia is doing in killing innocent civilians, destroying the infrastructure there has to be moved to want to support the Ukrainians. I&#8217;m very disappointed in those who don&#8217;t see the importance of this.
TAPPER: All right, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, thanks for joining us this morning, sir.
TURNER: Thank you.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-military-norad-release-new-statement-about-object-shot-down-over-alaska">U.S. Military, NORAD Release New Statement About Object Shot Down Over Alaska</a>

Mike Turner

House Intel Chairman Mike Turner: The U.S. Has Holes In Homeland Defense Infrastructure That Need Fixing

House Intel Chairman: The U.S. Has Holes In Homeland Defense Infrastructure That Need Fixing

U.S. officials believe the unidentified flying objects (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ufo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UFO</a>) spotted over the United States and Canada over the past couple days are balloons, the Senate&#8217;s top Democrat said Sunday morning.
Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chuck-schumer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chuck Schumer</a> (D-NY) told ABC News&#8217;s George Stephanopoulos he discussed the situation with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday night.
&#8220;They believe they were, yes,&#8221; Schumer told the anchor of &#8220;This Week&#8221; when asked to confirm whether the objects shot down over Alaska and Canada were balloons.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“I think the Chinese were humiliated. I think the Chinese were caught lying, and it’s a real step back for them…they look really bad,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tells <a href="https://twitter.com/GStephanopoulos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GStephanopoulos</a> about the Chinese balloon surveillance program. <a href="https://t.co/eS3P8M0epS">https://t.co/eS3P8M0epS</a> <a href="https://t.co/GrR27nUY3d">pic.twitter.com/GrR27nUY3d</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1624775988558065664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Schumer added that these objects were &#8220;much smaller&#8221; than the balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina last weekend, and were flying at a lower altitude of about 40,000 feet, endangering commercial aircraft.
With salvage operations underway, Schumer said U.S. military and intelligence officials are focused on gathering and accumulating information. A &#8220;comprehensive analysis&#8221; will follow, the senator said.
Schumer also claimed the United States only recently discovered these flying objects. &#8220;Until a few months ago we didn&#8217;t know about these balloons,&#8221; he said.
Another UFO appears to have been detected over Montana late Saturday.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected what it called a &#8220;radar anomaly,&#8221; leading to a temporary flight restriction over the central part of the state. But a fighter aircraft sent to investigate &#8220;did not identify any object to correlate&#8221; the radar hits and the restriction was lifted, NORAD added.
The only UFO the U.S. military has publicly identified is the one shot down off the coast of South Carolina last weekend.
That vessel, the U.S. officials say, was a Chinese spy balloon that flew at a high altitude — away from commercial aircraft — across a wide swath of the United States. China claims the airship was a weather balloon that had been blown off course.
Authorities in China said they witnessed a UFO off the coast of a port city, a state-run newspaper claimed on Sunday. “Local maritime authorities in East China’s Shandong Province announced on Sunday that they had spotted an unidentified flying object in waters near the coastal city of Rizhao in the province and were preparing to shoot it down, reminding fishermen to be safe via messages,” <a href="https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1624734766057803776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said a tweet</a> from the Global Times.

Chuck Schumer

Schumer Says U.S. Officials Believe UFOs Shot Down Over Alaska And Canada Were Balloons

George Stephanopoulos

This Week

President Donald J. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-loses-it-again-trump-gets-2-scoops-ice-cream-joseph-curl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">couldn&#8217;t even get a second scoop of ice cream</a> without legacy media and anonymous sources going into hysterics, but now the Deep State is trying to convince the American people that Chinese spy balloons flew overhead during the Trump administration on several occasions — without the public so much as hearing a peep about the incident from government leaders.
As if that wasn&#8217;t insulting enough, the running defense of the Biden administration&#8217;s incompetence over the most recent Chinese spy balloon is that the international embarrassment is all Trump&#8217;s fault.
When Americans heard there was a gigantic inflatable surveillance device high above Montana, the most common reaction was, &#8220;Why hasn&#8217;t it been shot down yet?&#8221; Deep State officials told lapdog media that similar scenarios played out under Trump, and no action was taken, thus setting the precedent for President Joe Biden.
&#8220;It has happened a handful of other times over the past few years, to include before this administration,&#8221; an official <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/03/chinese-balloon-aerial-surveillance-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Washington Post on Friday.
In turn, numerous Trump officials <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/05/trump-denies-any-chinese-spy-balloons-under-his-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rushed</a> to defend the previous president.
Former Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Ric Grenell, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and more all came out and said it never happened. 
Even former National Security Advisor John Bolton — who by all accounts detests Trump — came out and said it never occurred.
So, it seemed as if it was just made up by somebody in the Biden administration. Then another official said that the spy balloons were discovered &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-explanation-for-why-trump-never-shot-down-chinese-spy-balloons-emerges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after Trump left office.</a>&#8221;
How convenient.
Then something even more eyebrow-raising happened on Monday.
Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) alleged that some former Trump officials believe that former Secretary of Defense James Mattis never informed the 45th president about the spy balloons due to his potential erratic behavior.
&#8220;My office has been briefed by the office of the Secretary of Defense of the current Pentagon that it happened over Florida, it happened over Texas, and that it’s happened before,&#8221; Waltz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQraV6M1Xs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox Business&#8217;s Stuart Varney. &#8220;We have more detailed questions but what is unclear, Stuart, at this point is, did the Pentagon under the Trump administration brief the Trump White House and give them the option to take action or did they decide not to brief them for whatever reason?&#8221;
Waltz added that he is going to get to the bottom of what happened.
&#8220;And there is some speculation, I talked to Trump administration officials over the weekend, that the Pentagon deliberately did it because they thought Trump would be too provocative and too aggressive,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQraV6M1Xs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>. &#8220;So that’s what we need to get to the bottom of and one person that I’m waiting to hear from that we haven’t heard from that list is former Secretary of Defense, General Mattis who was the secretary during this time period. What did he know and what did he decide to pass on and brief to the president.&#8221;
To recap, the alleged explanations regarding Chinese spy balloons under Trump are that, he knew and did nothing, the intel community failed to detect the balloons until after Trump left office, or that information was purposefully withheld from Trump — thereby potentially breaking chain-of-command.
Of those three, there is reason to suspect that the Deep State did not tell Trump.
We already know that the career officials in the U.S. government lied to Trump in the past in order to advance its policies and halt his America First agenda — such as when it hid the number of troops in Syria from the president.
&#8220;We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” former U.S. diplomat Jim Jeffrey and <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/">avowed</a> &#8220;Never Trumper&#8221; admitted in the waning days of the Trump administration.
So, the latest revelation about The Swamp not being forthright with Trump would not necessarily be surprising.
What should be never dulled is the apparent brazenness that the Deep State went to thwart the will of the American people who elected Trump during his time leading the executive branch. Now, even after he has left office, it seems they are trying to smear his presidency to excuse Biden&#8217;s ineptitude.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Blame Trump: The Deep State’s Latest Defense Of Biden’s Chinese Spy Balloon Ineptitude

Blame Trump: The Deep State’s Latest Defense Of Biden's Chinese Spy Balloon Ineptitude

Deep State

Donald Trump

James Mattis

National Intelligence

U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck told reporters on Monday that the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend was potentially carrying explosives on board so it could self-destruct.
The news comes after the U.S. military used an F-22 Raptor on Saturday to take out a Chinese spy balloon off over the Atlantic Ocean using a single air-to-air AIM-9X Sidewinder missile that was fired at an altitude of approximately 58,000 feet. The decision to shoot down the spy balloon came after President Joe Biden allowed it to fly thousands of miles over the continental U.S. last week.
VanHerck, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), said that the balloon was up to 200 feet tall and weighed &#8220;in excess of a couple thousand pounds.&#8221;
He also said that officials believe it potentially carried explosives &#8220;to detonate and destroy the balloon.&#8221;
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Wow: Northcom chief Gen. VanHerck says the balloon was up to 200 ft tall, with a payload the size of a jetliner. It weighed &quot;in excess of a couple thousand lbs&quot; and potentially carried explosives &quot; to detonate and destroy the balloon.&quot;
&mdash; Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) <a href="https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/1622660712551129091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
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VanHerck told reporters that the military normally does not have authority to gather intelligence with the United States on a day-to-day basis but that in this case “specific authorities were granted to collect intelligence against the balloon.”
“It was my assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America,” VanHerck continued. “This is under my NORAD hat, and therefore I could not take immediate action [against the balloon] because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the spy balloon had propellers and a rudder to help it navigate its way, but its maneuverability was reportedly limited.
&#8220;They utilize their maneuverability to strategically position themselves to utilize the winds to traverse portions of countries that they want to see for collection purposes,&#8221; VanHerck added.
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Gen. VanHerck of NORAD/NORTHCOM offers more on how these balloons navigate: &quot;They utilize their maneuverability to strategically position themselves to utilize the winds to traverse portions of countries that they want to see for collection purposes.&quot;
&mdash; Matt Seyler (@MattSeyler) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattSeyler/status/1622664000759529472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
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This report has been updated to included additional information.

Senate Armed Services Committee

U.S. Military Reveals Size Of Chinese Spy Balloon, Says It Potentially Carried Explosives

Over the past several hours, new details popped into view offering an explanation for why former President Donald Trump never got the chance to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mcconnell-torches-biden-over-chinese-spy-balloon-an-embarrassment-that-just-played-out-in-our-skies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shoot down Chinese spy balloons</a>.
These fresh tidbits of information appeared in media reports citing anonymous former U.S. government officials while Trump and high-level members of his administration publicly denied claims from President Joe Biden&#8217;s national security team that such vessels flew over the United States on their watch.
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-06/us-didn-t-know-about-chinese-balloons-during-trump-until-later?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=share&amp;utm_campaign=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump-era officials told Bloomberg</a> that assessing unidentified objects took weeks because Chinese surveillance balloons included jamming systems that hid their true intent. The news report then flatly states: &#8220;The former president was never presented an opportunity to shoot balloons down.&#8221;
A separate <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/05/trump-officials-deny-chinese-spy-balloons-00081257" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report from POLITICO</a> said lower-level officials detected various sorts of balloon activity over U.S. territories in recent years. In citing a former senior Defense Department official, the article said the intelligence community assessed in 2020 that &#8220;much smaller&#8221; balloons detected off of Virginia&#8217;s coast were Chinese radar-jamming devices.
The feud airing out between Trump alumni and the Biden administration began after the U.S. government publicly acknowledged a suspected Chinese reconnaissance balloon hovering at a high altitude over the country last week. A fighter jet <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-military-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-after-biden-let-it-travel-across-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> the balloon on Saturday, only after it flew over the coast of the Carolinas as the Pentagon raised concerns about falling debris over land. A <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-05/us-moves-to-recover-chinese-balloon-as-pressure-grows-to-expand-export-controls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">salvage operation by the United States followed</a>. China denies the vessel was a spy balloon, instead claiming it was a weather balloon that was blown off course.
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The United States has shot down the high altitude balloon from China at the centre of a spying scandal. President Joe Biden ordered the strike, the spectacular show of force happening live on TV. <a href="https://t.co/b3nAU1JF34">https://t.co/b3nAU1JF34</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/telester?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@telester</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7NEWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7NEWS</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZUJ3paV47B">pic.twitter.com/ZUJ3paV47B</a>
&mdash; 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) <a href="https://twitter.com/7NewsAustralia/status/1622139338762113024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Throughout this national security concern, Republicans and members of Trump&#8217;s administration took to the airwaves to chastise Biden for allowing the balloon to get as far as it did. That&#8217;s when a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/suspected-chinese-balloon-over-us-02-04-23/h_1f1e4d057e1aa906e5ef3b686e63527b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">senior U.S. defense official</a> first said Chinese government surveillance balloons &#8220;transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.&#8221;
Trump-era officials, including former Director of National Intelligence <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-ratcliffe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Ratcliffe</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/suspected-chinese-balloon-over-us-02-04-23/h_1f1e4d057e1aa906e5ef3b686e63527b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">former Defense Secretary Mark Esper</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ratcliffe-shoots-down-claim-that-three-chinese-balloons-crossed-over-u-s-under-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cast doubt on this claim</a>. Trump flatly denied it. &#8220;This never happened. It would have never happened,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-top-national-security-officials-refute-claim-chinese-spy-balloons-transited-us-under-last-admin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump told Fox News</a>.
What followed were reports citing a senior Biden official claiming Chinese spy balloons over the United States during the Trump administration were discovered after Trump left office. Then it was revealed the Pentagon briefed Congress about sightings near Florida and Texas. “Currently, we understand there were incursions near Florida and Texas, but we don’t have clarity on what kind of systems were on these balloons or if these incursions occurred in territorial waters or overflew land,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/MarquardtA/status/1622383668277682177" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Rep. Mike Waltz</a> (R-FL).
An official <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/05/politics/chinese-spy-balloons-trump-administration/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CNN</a> the intelligence community is ready to offer briefings to top Trump administration officials about their findings.

An Explanation For Why Trump Never Shot Down Chinese Spy Balloons Emerges

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/national-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National security</a> experts believe the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> spy balloon which recently traversed the continental United States was a curveball for officials charged with guarding <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">military</a> secrets and a test for American responses to unconventional threats.
Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3287173/dod-statement-on-high-altitude-surveillance-balloon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Thursday that the military observed “a high altitude surveillance balloon” above the nation. The vessel crossed Montana, the home of several defense assets and missile silos, then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-flies-out-of-montana-and-over-new-u-s-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveled</a> over states such as Kansas and Missouri before the object was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-military-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-after-biden-let-it-travel-across-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> off the coast of the Carolinas.
The Biden administration received backlash for neglecting to down the balloon over the Aleutian Islands or Montana, where critics say threats from falling debris would have been minimized. Some reports indicated that the hesitancy to take out the asset came because Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to make a diplomatic trip to China that was later postponed.
Bryan Clark, the director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, told The Daily Wire that the balloon was “not a direct threat” but could have enabled China to “obtain close-up visual imagery from different angles” than its low earth orbit satellites.
“That could improve China’s ability to target U.S. missile silos and better understand the construction and layout of U.S. bomber bases in places like Montana and North Dakota where the balloon is flying,” he said. “It could have obtained signals intelligence by listening in on U.S. military radio and radar signals. Because satellite flyovers are known and predictable, U.S. forces avoid transmitting sensitive signals during those windows, but the balloon can fly an unpredictable route and show up unexpectedly.”
The balloon could have also been “a test of U.S. air surveillance and response to less obvious threats,” added Clark, who previously conducted studies on behalf of DARPA and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “Russian bombers and surveillance aircraft regularly test U.S. responses in the high north, but unarmed uncrewed aircraft like this balloon present a situation U.S. air forces may not have a well-practiced response for.”
Lawmakers were surprised that the balloon was allowed to traverse portions of the country hosting sensitive military assets. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-am-alarmed-montana-gop-sen-steve-daines-wants-briefing-from-secdef-about-chinese-spy-balloon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the incident creates “significant concern” and called for a full security briefing to discuss the incident.
Victoria Coates, a senior research fellow for the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told The Daily Wire that the surveillance balloon is similar to the national security threats <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-ceo-will-testify-before-congress-as-national-security-privacy-concerns-grow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">presented</a> by the social media platform TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company. She concurred that China has “more sophisticated satellite options for gathering information” but said that it could be “developing a redundant system” with less advanced technology to guarantee more steady information flows.
“Make no mistake about it, this violation of U.S. sovereignty on the eve of Secretary Blinken’s scheduled trip to China was not only about surveillance, it was also about testing whether or not the Biden administration would respond strongly and risk the diplomatic engagement,” she remarked. “Unfortunately, until the story blew up in the news they clearly prioritized keeping the trip over defending the national security of the United States, and even though it’s been delayed, Secretary Blinken said in his statement he expects it to be rescheduled and expressed his commitment to diplomacy.”

CHINA-XI JINPING-PARTY SCHOOL-OFFICIALS-TRAINING SESSION (CN)

What Was China Trying To Accomplish With The Spy Balloon? National Security Experts Weigh In

National Security Experts Discuss What China Was Doing With Spy Balloon

Biden Administration

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