![]() “In order to detect with radar, you need to have some kind of new technology that can pick up very low observable things in the sky like balloons,” Heath continued. Heath said current radar systems focus on missiles and aircraft coming into U.S. “I can understand why they didn’t detect them in the past.” military really didn’t think the Chinese would have the gall to float one right over our own country,” he said. to develop better technology to detect future balloons. Tim Heath, a senior International defense researcher with Rand Corporation, said the incident should prompt the U.S. initially undetected, according to the Pentagon - three during the Trump administration and another months ago during the Biden administration. Taking down the balloon over Alaska would have also made it significantly more difficult and dangerous to “salvage, understand and exploit the capabilities” of the devices on board given the cold, volatile and deep waters around the state, Dalton said.Īlso concerning for intelligence officials and lawmakers is that four previous spy balloons flew over the U.S. That scares the hell out of me.”Īsked repeatedly why the government didn’t immediately shoot down the balloon when it was detected over Alaska, the defense officials repeated past assertions that the debris field caused by such an operation, even in a remote area such as Alaska, was still too much of a risk to citizens on the ground. intelligence agencies may “think we know what they were going to collect, we don’t know. Royal assured Tester that the Defense Department has “some very good guesses” about what intel China was attempting to gather with the balloon, promising more details in the classified version of the hearing.īut Tester responded that while U.S. “I got a problem with a Chinese balloon flying over my state, much less the rest of the country.” “I don’t want a damn balloon going across the United States when we could potentially have taken it down over the Aleutian Islands,” he added. “Do we have a plan for when this happens again and what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it?” Tester asked the witnesses, which included Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah Royal. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), whose state also was in the balloon’s flight path, demanded answers as to how the administration has responded to past instances of Chinese aerial spying, what the balloons were collecting, and if there are any plans to respond if such a thing happens again. Susan Collins (R-Maine), meanwhile, said “it defies belief that there was not a single opportunity to safely shoot down this spy balloon prior to the coast of South Carolina.”Īnd the subcommittee chairman, Sen. She later added: “Seems to me the clear message to China is ‘we’ve got free range in Alaska, because they’re going to let us cruise over that.’” “The fact of the matter is, Alaska is the first line of defense for America, right? If you’re going to have Russia coming at you, if you’re going to have China coming at you, we know exactly how they come. I want to use other words but I’m not going to,” she said. 28, was visibly angry as she questioned the witnesses. Lisa Murkowski (R), whose state’s airspace was the first to be breached by the Chinese balloon on Jan. Tensions were particularly high at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing with defense officials.Īlaskan Sen. ![]() territory for days before being shot off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. ![]() military didn’t move quicker to down the balloon before it drifted slowly across U.S. The resolution also calls on the Biden administration to keep Congress abreast of any new information gleaned from the incident.īut lawmakers remain unsatisfied by the information to come out of the White House and Pentagon so far, as well as the reasoning for why the U.S. Washington will also seek to further expose the Chinese global surveillance campaign, the official said.Ĭongressional lawmakers also denounced Beijing, with the House later in the day unanimously passing a resolution condemning China’s use of the surveillance balloon over the United States, calling it a “brazen violation” of U.S. is exploring options to take action against the Chinese military and entities supporting the balloon spying operation. A State Department official on Thursday said the U.S. government isn’t wasting time in punching back at the breach. “An acceleration of those kinds of policies, the Chinese government will probably mirror.” accelerates different kinds of counterintelligence initiatives and expands to areas like, who do we grant visas to? Who is allowed to study at universities?” Ciorciari told The Hill.
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