The spy balloon incident has become more intricate with the Pentagon’s recent statement that more Chinese spy balloons were spotted over U.S. territory during the Trump presidency, but no members of the leadership in the Trump administration or the U.S. intelligence department were informed.
The situation seems to be rapidly evolving.
Furthermore, General Keith Kellogg, who held the position of Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council during the Trump administration, claims he was not informed of any such developments.
A senior U.S. general mentioned that the Pentagon was unable to detect earlier Chinese spy balloons while they were in flight and that officials have only recently discovered previous spy balloon incursions.
Former President Donald Trump and his administration vehemently denied defense officials’ claims that such balloons had flown over the U.S. on at least three occasions during his presidency.
Many Republicans claim that these statements are baseless attempts to undermine Trump’s presidential legacy and distract from Biden’s scandal.
The Biden administration acknowledged on Saturday that a China-affiliated spy balloon was first detected in Alaska on January 28th, and it later traveled from Alaska to Canada, and eventually into the mainland United States.
On Tuesday, the balloon entered Idaho and continued to traverse the country for the following four days.
However, after collecting all the data it needed, the balloon was ultimately shot down.
On Saturday, the media attempted to discredit allegations of espionage. They attempted to downplay the situation by stating that spy balloons cross into U.S. territory frequently, even suggesting that this occurred multiple times during the previous administration.
However, on Sunday, a news reporter debunked these claims.
Through discussions with several prominent figures including Michael Bolton, Ric Grenell, and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, it became evident that no one had knowledge of these incidents, and if they did occur, there was a lack of proper notification.
The military’s narrative has shifted. They now claim that the balloons were discovered by the intelligence community during the Trump administration, but they failed to inform their intelligence leaders.
However, this story has been discredited by former directors of national intelligence, Ratcliffe and Grenell.
It appears that either the military and the intelligence community have lied about previously detecting spy balloons or committed treason by concealing information from their superiors.
