Spy balloon likely sent extensive intelligence to China, experts say

A Chinese spy balloon that traveled across the US was likely able to send sensitive data to the Chinese Communist Party before it was shot down by the US military on Saturday, foreign policy experts told Fox News Digital.

Military officials decided to take the balloon out exactly one week after they first spotted it in Alaska. However, President Biden didn’t know about the balloon until Tuesday when it flew over Montana. Local news reported on its existence on Thursday.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that it “immediately took action to protect against the collection of sensitive information” from the balloon. But geopolitics experts say there’s little reason to believe the effort was successful, as the balloon almost certainly transmitted surveillance data to China as it flew over several military bases.

Brandon Weichert, author winning placestated that he believed China had successfully collected US military and technology information with its spy balloon.

“With all due respect to the Pentagon, I think this is nonsense – they are saying this to protect their ego and image,” Weichert told Fox News Digital. “It was a long-range surveillance mission prompted in part by comments from the Pentagon about the possibility of starting a war.”

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A Chinese spy balloon that traveled across the US was likely able to send sensitive data to the Chinese Communist Party before it was shot down by the US military on Saturday, foreign policy experts told Fox News Digital.
(Evan Fisher)

Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, said this practically confirms the success of China’s mission. The most scandalous aspect, he said, was that Biden was only informed of the balloon days after it was discovered by his military.

“If President Biden has not been informed, as he claims, then he has reason to fire the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Chang told Fox News Digital. “This failure could have serious consequences for the United States.”

The Pentagon said Saturday that three similar spy balloons from China flew over the US during the Trump administration, a claim disputed by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo. A senior administration official told Fox News that the existence of Chinese spy balloons over US soil in the Trump administration was not discovered until after the Biden administration came to power.

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President Biden was not immediately informed of what he knew about the Chinese spy balloon over the US.
(Fox News)

Rebecca Koffler, a former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officer specializing in foreign aerospace, said there was “a high possibility that the Chinese government infiltrated U.S. sensitive data” through its spy balloon.

“This brazen intelligence operation, orchestrated by Beijing and targeting US soil, has almost certainly provided the Chinese military with critical insight into the Biden administration’s policies and stance toward China, as well as President Biden’s red lines when it comes to foreign aerospace assets. violating U.S. sovereign airspace,” Koffler told Fox News Digital. “These ideas are very helpful for China in developing containment strategies to dissuade the United States from intervening in China’s future aggressive operations against Taiwan.”

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President Biden said he ordered the military to withdraw a Chinese spy balloon on Tuesday, which was eventually destroyed on Saturday.
(Anna Moneymaker)

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The Pentagon said it was delaying the destruction of the Chinese balloon over fears that debris could harm civilians and destroy property. Weichert said there could be more in the game as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was scheduled to visit China on an official trip this week before it was put on hold due to media backlash against the balloon, leading to a public debacle. which “made us look weak”.

“It was a political decision – they didn’t want to upset China ahead of the event,” Weichert told Fox News Digital. “Biden is willing to sell our national security to get a piece of paper with China on global warming.”