The Chinese spy balloon and the many other suspicious aircraft that have been spotted over the airspace of various countries in the western hemisphere are still being defined. The identified spy balloon which entered U.S. airspace on the west coast, traveled across America, and was eventually followed by military jets and downed in the Atlantic just off the South Carolina coast, was able to fly over military bases and other installations before the take-down occurred.
According to China, the balloon was primarily a civilian weather balloon that had been blown off course, and they accused the U.S. of overreacting by destroying it, but only after it had flown over a large area of the United States. Beijing claims that the unannounced balloon was a weather balloon, but the US shot it down as they believed it was a surveillance balloon. National security experts have said that the spy balloon’s path may have been a strategy to better map out and understand the location of U.S. missile silos and other artillery.
The F-16 fighter jet audio was released earlier this week, which furthered the mystery surrounding the incident. On Monday, John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, gave an update on the Chinese spy balloons that have been shot down, and the audio from the F-16 fighter jet involved in shooting down the balloon was released. The audio shows just how bewildered the aircraft pilots were at the discovery of this object were as they sighted it, only furthering the mystery.
“I wouldn’t really call it a balloon … I don’t know what … I can see it outside with my eyes,” one pilot says after locking eyes with the unidentifiable object.
On Thursday, Biden responded to the situation discounting the importance of the unannounced aircraft and other balloon’s presence in U.S. airspace, saying “were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” and now his administration is stating that this type of infringement on United States airspace will become a common occurance. The phrase “most likely” punctuated the fact that it is unknown what the Chinese were doing with the balloon. The parts of the balloon downed off the Carolinas reportedly would fill three school busses, and the parts that were recovered by the Navy waiting offshore to do just that are being analyzed.
Biden also said Thursday that he would seek new “common global norms” for launching and maintaining unmanned arial objects, and that the event “underscores the importance of maintaining open lines of communication” with Beijing, Radio Free Asia reported.
Stating in his speech, “We don’t yet know what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests that they were related to China’s Spy Balloon program…” Biden also stated that he will address the matter with China. NPR reported this week that Biden will “soon speak” with President Xi Jinping about the balloon shot down over two weeks ago off South Carolina.
In a further attempt to downplay the appearance of the balloons, on Friday Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, suggested that “high-altitude vehicles” will become more and more common.
“When a country is caught spying in a clear and obvious way, right? Like another country responds to it, and I think that’s appropriate,” Haines commented. “I think that it’s perfectly reasonable to have a clear and forceful reaction to a Chinese high altitude balloon — you know — flying over the United States and surveilling us.” She continued, “I think there is a question of — as technology improves as we start to see more high-altitude vehicles, in effect, that we’re going to see more of this, and we’re going to have to understand that and manage it.”
At the same time as downplaying the appearance of the balloons, in an apparent effort to deflect responsibility from themselves in regard to the rogue aircraft, Democrats are claiming that similar aircraft managed to enter U.S. airspace during the previous Trump administration, and that former President Trump did not move against them. Republicans in Congress are not taking that accusation lightly.
On Monday, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene demanded an investigation into the claim made by the Biden administration that Chinese spy balloons infiltrated the United States during former President Donald Trump’s time in office. Greene expressed skepticism that President Trump was unaware of such incidents and suggested that the Pentagon may have kept security information from him. She called for an investigation into the matter to determine the truth and to ensure that the President is always informed of any potential security threats.
She tweeted, “If it’s true the Pentagon purposely did NOT tell President Trump of Chinese Spy Balloons during his administration then we had a serious breach in command during the Trump admin. The POTUS is the Commander in Chief. We must investigate and hold accountable those who broke rank.”
