Adding up to the long list of Biden’s embarrassment, an NBC News report revealed a phone conversation between General Mark Milley, Biden’s top military adviser, and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) chief Gen. Glen VanHerck about the existence of China’s spy balloon.
During the conversation, U.S. intelligence officials informed Biden’s adviser that they had been tracking the flying object for ten days and that it had crossed into U.S. airspace from Alaska.
After the phone call, VanHerck sent updates to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Milley, and other Pentagon officials on the ballon’s location, flight path, and likely intent every 12 hours.
In one email, VanHerck noted that he did not have the authority to shoot the balloon down because it did not pose an “imminent” or “hostile” threat and, therefore, decided to wait for an order from the Pentagon or the White House.
The Chinese spy balloon equipped with solar panels and a payload of surveillance devices, was the size of three school buses.
NORAD chief warned that this program remains active and that U.S. authorities have not yet developed systems to counteract or even detect these spy balloons as they enter American airspace.
A former senior U.S. official said, “Before it was spotted publicly, there was an intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it.”
President Biden was only briefed on February 1, and this was only the first time DoD Sec. Austin only discussed with VanHerck about the balloon.
At this point, the spycraft had already re-entered the US through Montana and transmitted the initial data it had collected from military sites back to Beijing.
A top U.S. official remarked, “They weren’t paying attention.”
He also noted that the U.S. is “not where it needs to be” in terms of the development of “deterrence options.”
This balloon had irked many lawmakers. Republican leaders slammed the White House for not shooting it down before it entered the U.S. airspace.
It took almost two weeks before the White House decided to shoot down the balloon. On February 4, a U.S. Air Force F-22 disabled the flying equipment exactly 6 miles off the coast of South Carolina. However, the contents of the balloon remain concealed.
The phone calls shed light on how the Democrat-led federal government attempts to conceal information on the surveillance equipment, its efforts to blindside Congress and the public.
Probably because the CCP helped in getting Biden elected by Hacking into the Election Computers.