Staff Reports
The Chinese spy balloon that had reportedly been carrying explosives with the potential to self-detonate had been allowed to traverse across the United States, putting civilians at risk. President Joe Biden had been aware of the surveillance balloon, yet he chose to do nothing. The balloon had traveled across nuclear silos and military installations, until it was eventually shot down over the Atlantic just off the coast of the Carolinas.
📢NEW: Chairman @RepMarkGreen comments on the Chinese spy balloon being removed from U.S. airspace ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/C1GjEiM35f
— House Homeland GOP (@HomelandGOP) February 4, 2023
Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, provided details about the balloon on a call with reporters Monday. He described it as being 200 feet tall, weighing thousands of pounds, and its payload being the size of a jetliner. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby defended Biden’s decision to wait and shoot down the Chinese craft until it was over South Carolina’s coastline on Saturday. He explained that the president wanted to do so safely, and that it afforded them an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the balloon’s capabilities.
Almost 48 hours after public discovery, the Chinese spying balloon has been shot down.
It makes you wonder, would Biden’s Department of Defense have shot it down if the American people hadn’t found out?
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 4, 2023
There needs to be a full, transparent accounting of what happened and why this spy balloon was allowed to violate U.S. territorial sovereignty for so long in the first place.
— Senator Deb Fischer (@SenatorFischer) February 4, 2023
Biden later attempted to claim victory after the U.S. military shot down the Chinese spy balloon but was later criticized by officials. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the Chinese spy ballon was sent to the U.S. “in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-NC) expressed his disapproval of Biden’s actions, saying it was “indefensible that this threat was eliminated only after great public outcry and the damage to U.S. national security and American sovereignty was already done.” He went on to say that Biden had demonstrated weakness on the global stage, and that he was not interested in protecting American interests.
The Chinese spy balloon had been in U.S. airspace over Alaska last Saturday, and Secretary of State Antony Blicken’s diplomatic trip to China had been used as a reason for not informing the public of the balloon’s presence. The Pentagon had confirmed that the balloon was carrying explosives with the potential to self-detonate, and it was only after great public outcry that President Biden ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible.
The incident involving the Chinese spy balloon has raised many questions about President Biden’s ability to protect American interests and national security from foreign adversaries. It is clear that Biden chose to demonstrate weakness on the global stage when faced with an opportunity to protect the homeland from our adversaries, and this incident will likely be remembered for some time.
The preceding article is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Daily Fetched
