Breitbart: Report: Biden Administration Tried to Hide Chinese Spy Balloon from American Public
The Biden administration was aware of the Chinese spy balloon entering United States airspace on January 28 but tried to hide its existence from the American people until being forced to go public, according to a report on Saturday.
Bloomberg News reported that the Biden administration was “well aware” that the balloon had entered U.S. airspace on Saturday, January 28, but decided to keep quiet about it so as not to ruin a planned trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
The outlet reported:
As it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday. But with such a high-profile trip at stake, keeping it on the down-low was key.
However, on Wednesday, February 1, a Billings, Montana, resident spotted the balloon around 5:30 p.m. local time, and the next day, a local Montana paper published a report about it. Later that day, late Thursday afternoon, the Pentagon finally confirmed the existence of the balloon.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: It was only when the local public media started to report on the balloon that the Pentagon was finally forced to respond. So yes. It does look like this was a situation where some, at least in the Pentagon, wanted this story to not be made public for as long as possible.
Update: This is a must read post from Bloomberg on the White House's response to this Chinese "spy" balloon .... From China to Big Sky: The Balloon That Unnerved the White House (Bloomberg).
Update #2: Michael Ramirez is brutal (see below).
31 comments:
Here is a List of the US Military Bases in the Path of the China Spy Balloon As it Traversed Across the Continental United States
In other news Amazon reports a spike in shipments of clean underpants to the Pentagon and the White House.
"Balloons offer a few advantages over the use of satellites or drones, ...
Not only are they cheaper than launching satellites into space, but by operating within the bounds of the earth's atmosphere, closer to the surface, they can obtain better-quality images."
James Rogers, an academic at the University of Southern Denmark and Cornell University, who currently advises the U.N. Security Council on the transnational threat of drones
So the balloon got close to Whiteman AFB in Missouri where we have the unique (so far and maybe a short time only) B2 bombers.
Obtaining info for Chinese hypersonic missiles.
SO I have a question. Who is Austin and what is his IQ?
"Macdonald argues spy balloons can serve another purpose - for example, to expose U.S. defense capabilities. This could explain why U.S. authorities waited for the balloon to become public knowledge before commenting, Macdonald says. "Had they reacted sooner it would have confirmed to the Chinese that U.S. air defenses had seen it."
The government has said it decided against shooting down the balloon to prevent injuries on the ground - though some Montana residents questioned this, telling The Post the area was sparsely populated."
The Montanans have a point.
Expose defense capabilities?
It’s like hiding a haystack behind a needle…
Expose defense capabilities?
NORAD tracks space debris.
In other news:
"(Tribune News Service) — Some 8,500 people turned out on Dec. 16, 2017, to watch the commissioning of the new $440 million USS Little Rock — draped in red, white and blue bunting — at Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.
That now appears to have been the ship’s only bright moment.
Not even six years later, the USS Little Rock will be decommissioned on March 31 at Mayport Naval Station in Florida, where it is stationed."
Here is a list of the US Military bases in the path of the China Spy Balloon.
** Malstrom Air Force Base – Montana
** Ellsworth Air Force Base – South Dakota
** Joe Foss Field ANG – South Dakota
** Sioux City ANG – Iowa
** Offutt Air Force Base -Nebraska
** Camp Ashland – Nebraska
** Lincoln ANG – Nebraska
** Whiteman Air Force Base – Missouri
** Fort Leonard Wood – Missouri
** St. Louis Army Human Resources – St. Louis, MO
** Scott Air Force Base – Illinois
** Fort Campbell – Tennessee
** Nashville ANG – Tennessee
** Smyrna ANG – Tennessee
** Houston Barracks – Tennessee
** McGhee Tyson ANG – Tennessee
** Pope Air Force Base – North Carolina
** Fort Bragg – North Carolina
** MCAS New River – North Carolina
** Camp Lejeune – North Carolina
** US Coast Guard Station Fort Macon
But senior Pentagon officials said on Saturday that suspected Chinese surveillance balloons crossed into the US at least three times during the Trump administration and once earlier in the Biden administration, the Associated Press reported.
The senior defense official who spoke on background also said "a balloon of this nature" crossed over the continental US before the Biden administration but declined to specify when.
"It's happened a few times in recent years to include before this administration. But beyond that, I'm not going to go into the details," the official said.
But an unnamed source from the Trump administration insisted to Bloomberg in that same article that it wasn’t a big deal.
“One top national security official from the administration of former President Donald Trump said none of the Chinese spy balloons were near sensitive sites or had payloads as large as this one appears to carry,” Bloomberg continued.
And if you can’t trust an unnamed official who worked for Trump, who can you trust, right?
The Associated Press also has a new report that quotes a defense expert who said that Chinese spy balloons have been detected near sensitive sites in Hawaii, home to a large U.S. military presence, during the past five years.
The American people wanted it shot down so it was shot down. If it wasn’t made public and didn’t loiter so long it wouldn’t even be a story. Happened before and probably happen again with these balloons.
Why didn't they live capture it
balloon three times the size of a bus. how do you live capture it?
shoot it down: and injure or kill people and destroy balloon.
what got done: shot down over water, close to land, so now what was on it can be retrieved.
what was done was the smartest and safest thing so stop looking to badmouth Biden
at 2:10 PM
a satellite can spot my house via google so a military base does NOT need a balloon to note a huge military base...but thanks for your listing
@ 2:54 PM
This isn't google earth. This is low earth orbit territory. Think reading license plates not merely being able to spot a house.
Thank you for playing.
'Do you remember during the Trump administration, when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon over the United States that people could look up and see?'
'I don't remember that either. Because it didn't happen.'
former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe flatly told Fox News on Sunday morning.
"It should be noted that neither Esper, nor former CIA director and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are on palsy terms with Trump these days. Esper was fired in some dispute near the end of the Trump presidency and Pompeo is a potential rival for the presidency in 2024. It's not like there's a tag team thing going on with all of them, given that they don't speak with each other. That makes them particularly credible as witnesses."
"A sixth reason is a potential self-own from the Pentagon. With Esper and Pompeo denying they ever heard about this, could it be that the Pentagon knew about this and never told Trump or any of his men? That's pretty much their pattern, what with Gen. Milley caught calling up his Chinese counterparts in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots and assuring them that he'd give them good notice should Trump decide to launch a war with them. The insubordination of the Pentagon to any commander in chief is getting to be a significant story."
This lame MSM Milley-Austin-Pentagon thing is going to deflate very soon. Milley should be court martialed for insubordination if not treason.
and that was denied as false.
meantime:
Does the United States use spy balloons?
Using balloons as spy platforms goes back to the early days of the Cold War. Since then, the US has used hundreds of them to monitor its adversaries, said Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia and former Royal Australian Air Force officer.
Chinese spy balloons were in US airspace three times during Trump administration | The Independent
But is Pompeo telling the truth? The Pentagon was quick to point out on Thursday that this kind of thing has happened before, though it didn’t get into specifics.
“Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years,” Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said in a statement published online.
1,800 weather balloons launched every day. How dare the white house fail to report on this one.
Man, they really don't want this guy to run again, huh?
As it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday. But with such a high-profile trip at stake, keeping it on the down-low was key.
try to stop being stupid. we got their remains of the balloon. We kept Americans safe. That is why Trump lost and Biden won.
tired of winning?
But is Pompeo telling the truth?
“Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years,” Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said in a statement published online.
Pompeo went on the record. So did Pat Ryder. Here is the difference. often times a spokesperson is a paid liar. they are expected to lie. If they are caught in a lie, it can actually redound positively to them into future high paying gigs. There is no downside for a hoax person in lying.
Look at what Pompeo said. He said have airline pilots reported it before. Well have they?
There was a vote in Germany and Hitler won. That means the other guy was the loser, but who actually lost? 6 million Jews that is who. 4:24 is a stupid asshole with the brains of a paramecium.
let me help you out a bit. Hitler did not win. here is what took place.
Hitler rise to power
Senior Defense Official and Senior Military Official Hold an Off-Camera, On-Background Press Briefing Update on the High-Altitude Surveillance Balloon > U.S. Department of Defense > Transcript
I know what happened. Hitler did not win a majority. He won a plurality and then they brought him into the government, then by hook and by crook he installed himself
Biden did not win, but like Hitler he was installed.
FTFY
prove with facts, data, and evidence that Biden did not win...I dare you.
Rep. Michael Waltz (R.-Fla.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview that defense officials identified the locations in a discussion with lawmakers and staff on Saturday, disclosing for the first time that similar surveillance balloons had been spotted in U.S. airspace near the continental United States before. The existence of such balloons near Hawaii and Guam has been reported previously.
Two such incidents were reported near Florida, while there was at least one each in the other three locations, Waltz said.
The defense officials said that several of those events occurred during the Trump administration, Waltz said. Officials had also said that during a news briefing with reporters on Saturday.
The Defense Department was not specific about where in each state the previous incursions occurred, or whether they made it into U.S. airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from the shore, or over U.S. territory, too, Waltz said. Fox News first reported the additional locations.
The account, verified by two U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, adds to an issue that has become vexing for the U.S. government.
One of the other officials, a congressional aide, said that the disclosure came during a phone briefing with congressional leaders and national security committees. The administration official briefing them said the other incidents had mostly been along or off the coast of the United States.
Several former Trump administration officials, including former defense secretary Mark T. Esper, said they do not recall reports of such balloons reaching their level, raising questions about how they were handled at the time.
BREAKING: ABC News Host Jonathan Karl just broke it to Senator Marco Rubio that Trump let a Chinese spy balloon fly over the US 3 times.
I could watch his face on repeat 1,000 times as he hears this from Karl! pic.twitter.com/cu2Ou3Ioqj
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) February 5, 2023
"We — we assess that it was not a considerable intelligence threat to the United States, because we don't think the technology on this balloon provided significant value-added over and above what the PRC already had."
I love the stutter man. Shows some lying there.
Low Earth orbit is better for imaging, but we are to believe Mr.-off-the-record-press-briefer because why? Chinese are too stupid to take advantage of LEO? Because they cannot figure cameras?
Yup and in the 30s and 40s we though Japanese could be good fighter pilots, because .... they were inferior Asians?
5:13 is a semi-literate, semi-intelligent moron.
Anything sensitive is under cover. Yawn
Anything sensitive is under cover. Yawn
More Than a Dozen F-22s May Have Been Damaged or Destroyed by Hurricane Michael
OCT 15, 2018
So the military that cannot pull put assets days ahead of a hurricane, knows enough to put stuff undercover?
Serious question bro. Are you trolling or are you a retard?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Karl
Controversies
In May 2013, Karl was caught in a controversy when he wrote an article that claimed to quote directly from an email sent by a White House advisor.[12] It was later revealed that the quote was inaccurately given to Karl by an unnamed source, and that he himself had never seen the email. Karl apologized for the error, and also for not having stated that the quote was from a detailed summary his source provided, rather than a direct quote from the email
Yeah that Karl
Everywhere the balloon floated over is now gay.
Which means all of the above posters are gay.
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