The Biden White House on Monday claimed that China operates a “high-altitude balloon program for intelligence gathering” and is currently spying on dozens of countries.
White House spokesman John Kirby did not confirm whether the last three objects shot down by the U.S. military were part of the Chinese surveillance effort. He did tell reporters that recovery efforts are underway to retrieve the mysterious craft.
There have been four objects downed by U.S. forces, which includes the Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4 in the waters off the South Carolina coast.
The military shot down an unidentified object over Alaska on Feb. 10, another over northern Canada on Feb. 11, and still another over Lake Huron on Feb. 12.
Admiral Kirby told the White House briefing that the nation is undertaking “intensive” efforts to locate and recover the debris. However, besides the initial spy balloon, experts have not been able to determine exactly what the other objects were.
Despite the first balloon being described as a Chinese reconnaissance vessel — an assessment China has sought to undercut — the origins and purpose of the other objects has not been confirmed by the U.S. military. https://t.co/KHpp72zfBa
— ABC News (@ABC) February 12, 2023
He told reporters that the objects did not appear to be communicating externally. Kirby said the administration is working to better communicate to the American people exactly what the high-altitude and low-speed objects were.
The admiral reported that the White House was previously aware of the spy balloon program and knew that the People’s Republic deployed them “over dozens of countries on multiple continents around the world.”
Their targets included some of the nation’s “closest allies and partners.”
Predictably, Kirby targeted the Trump administration by telling reporters that the Chinese spy balloon program was not detected until after Biden took office. What he failed to note was that the capability to detect the high-altitude craft was only recently developed.
This meant that the Trump administration had no way of knowing the balloons were operating high above U.S. airspace.
Still, that has hardly deterred some left-wing outlets from parroting the narrative that the previous president was somehow negligent.
The American public demands transparency on this highly sensitive subject, not pointing misguided fingers at the previous administration. The White House needs to be forthcoming soon on the exact nature of the aircraft flying above the nation and lay out measures to end the practice.
