WASHINGTON: A startling new report has claimed that US president Joe Biden and his admin planned to keep the Chinese spy balloon – a secret from the public, even from Congress that penetrated US airspace 11 months ago. The ploy was to come clean only after the civilians saw the massive white orb over Montana.
A senior US official in a conversation with NBC News on Friday said, “Before it was spotted publicly, there was the intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it.”
The expected Chinese balloon penetrated American airspace around 11 months before, as per a report by the New York Post.
The huge spycraft over Alaska was spotted by the North American Aerospace Defense Command on January 27. Shortly after this, commander General Glen VanHerck informed General Mark Milley, president Biden’s top military adviser about the alarming intrusion.
However, multiple officials in the administration and Congress claimed that Biden was not informed about the alarming intrusion until January 31. They claimed that even Secretary of defense Lloyd Austin was too “focused” on a diplomatic trip. “They weren’t paying attention,” a senior US official said.
The report claimed that the balloon- the size of three school buses was equipped with solar panels and a payload of surveillance devices. By then, the spycraft had re-entered the US over Montana after traversing half of Canada and transmitting data it collected from military sites back to Beijing.
The Biden administration chose to remain silent even when several Americans sighted the orb far overhead. But, the incident sparked national outrage when a local Montana paper, published photos of the strange craft on February 2.
The US air force shot the balloon down on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina.
In an interaction with media in June, Joe Biden said, “I don’t think the leadership knew where it was, and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on.” “I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.” A Biden administration official stressed that the extended silence was necessary to “protect intel equities related to finding and tracking” the spycraft.
A senior US official in a conversation with NBC News on Friday said, “Before it was spotted publicly, there was the intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it.”
The expected Chinese balloon penetrated American airspace around 11 months before, as per a report by the New York Post.
The huge spycraft over Alaska was spotted by the North American Aerospace Defense Command on January 27. Shortly after this, commander General Glen VanHerck informed General Mark Milley, president Biden’s top military adviser about the alarming intrusion.
However, multiple officials in the administration and Congress claimed that Biden was not informed about the alarming intrusion until January 31. They claimed that even Secretary of defense Lloyd Austin was too “focused” on a diplomatic trip. “They weren’t paying attention,” a senior US official said.
The report claimed that the balloon- the size of three school buses was equipped with solar panels and a payload of surveillance devices. By then, the spycraft had re-entered the US over Montana after traversing half of Canada and transmitting data it collected from military sites back to Beijing.
The Biden administration chose to remain silent even when several Americans sighted the orb far overhead. But, the incident sparked national outrage when a local Montana paper, published photos of the strange craft on February 2.
The US air force shot the balloon down on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina.
In an interaction with media in June, Joe Biden said, “I don’t think the leadership knew where it was, and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on.” “I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.” A Biden administration official stressed that the extended silence was necessary to “protect intel equities related to finding and tracking” the spycraft.