Chinese Spy Balloon Was Element Of Vast Surveillance Program: Reports
Huffington PostFeb 08, 2023
On Friday, US National Security Council official John Kirby confirmed that Pres. Biden authorized the military to shoot down a "high altitude object" for the second time in under a week.
Kirby told reporters that the object had been tracked over Alaskan airspace over the last 24 hours by the US Dept. of Defense. The object, which was flying at over 40K feet, "posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight."
Biden's swift and decisive action to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon was met with applause from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. While some critics believe he took too long, others understand that the president was putting the lives of American civilians first. This latest action confirms that Biden is making sound national security decisions in the face of these incursions into US airspace.
There is no excuse for why Biden and his Pentagon officials didn't destroy the previous Chinese balloon before it entered the US's mainland airspace. The president's inaction resulted in intelligence officials scrambling to protect America's secrets from Chinese intelligence collection as its surveillance device lingered over sensitive sites. Alaska is the first line of defense against Russia and China and that is where we should have crushed China's shameless espionage attempt. Biden needs to do better to protect America's skies.