Officials said better surveillance technology ordered by President Biden helped them detect the Chinese spy balloon and eventually take it down, something the Trump administration did not have.
Speaking at the event hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Sullivan added that as part of those efforts “we were able to go back and look at the historical patterns” and uncover “multiple instances” during the Trump administration in which Chinese surveillance balloons traversed American airspace and territory. officials have have said they didn’t learn of Chinese surveillance balloons during their tenures.
Sullivan defended Biden’s decision to wait until the balloon was off the Carolina coastline before shooting it down, saying military advisers assessed that downing it over water “created a greater possibility that we could effectively exploit the wreckage than if it were shot down over land.” Some GOP lawmakers have criticized the president for not shooting it down sooner, though Pentagon officials also warned of a potential risk to Americans on the ground.
Video caught by WMBF's meteorologist Robert Whitehurst shows the moments after the US shot down the Chinese balloon off the coast. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the U.S. military has begun collecting debris from the balloon. He also confirmed that the White House has offered to brief key officials from the Trump administration, but said briefings have yet to take place.
Kirby also dismissed China’s contention that the balloon was for meteorological purposes, saying “it strains credulity ... that this was some kind of weather balloon that was floating on the winds.”VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, said the U.S. “took maximum precautions” to prevent the balloon from collecting information as it crossed the nation. He declined to provide any details on how that was done, including by the military’s U.S. Strategic Command.
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