The Top Military Commander overseeing North American Airspace said Monday, that some previous Incursions by Chinese Spy Balloons, during the Trump Administration were Not detected in Real-Time, and the Pentagon learned of them only later. “I will tell you that we did not detect those threats, and that’s a domain awareness gap,” said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the Commander of the Pentagon’s Northern Command.
One Explanation, multiple U.S. Officials said, is that some previous Incursions were initially classified as “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UFO). As the Pentagon and Intelligence Agencies, stepped up efforts over the past Two years to find explanations for many of those Incidents, Officials Reclassified some Events as Chinese Spy Balloons.
It is Not clear when the Pentagon determined the Incidents involved Chinese Spying. When the determination was made, Officials kept the Information Secret, to avoid letting China know their Surveillance efforts were uncovered, the Officials said. In 2021, the Intelligence Agencies announced an intensified effort to collect more and better data, on Unexplained Incidents near Military Bases and Exercises. While part of a long-term push, those efforts have dramatically Increased the percentage of Unexplained Incidents, the Pentagon and Intelligence agencies have been able to Identify.
Jake Sullivan, the White House’s National Security Adviser, on Monday credited improved Surveillance under the Biden Administration with Detecting the Balloon that passed over the U.S. last week. “We enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect,” said Sullivan, speaking at an Event hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.
John F. Kirby, a National Security Council Spokesman said on Monday, that Chinese Spy Balloons passed over the U.S. on at least Three occasions during the Trump Administration. “From every indication that we have, that was for brief periods of time — nothing at all like what we saw last week in terms of duration,” said Kirby, referring to the Balloon that spent much of last week traversing the Country before the U.S. shot it down.
Senior Trump Administration Officials said, they were Never Briefed about Incursions by Chinese Spy Balloons while they were in Office. Trump, on his Social Media site Truth Social, called the Claims of Intrusions during his Administration “fake disinformation,” and his last Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, has also Denied it.
A Biden Administration Official said on Sunday, that Intelligence Officials could offer Briefings on China’s Balloon Surveillance program, which has sent Airborne machines over Five Continents, to Key former Officials from the Trump Administration.
General VanHerck said U.S. Intelligence had figured out that some of the unexplained incidents were in fact Spy Balloons based on “additional means of collection.” Neither General VanHerck nor Kirby described how they gathered additional information to determine which of the Unexplained Incidents involved Surveillance Balloons. Balloons account for many of the Unexplained Incidents, the Navy and other Military Services have Tracked in recent years. The previous Incidents, like other Unexplained Events, were handed over to a Pentagon Task Force charged with Investigating UFO's and other Aerial Phenomena.
One U.S. Official said previous Incursions occurred mainly in Coastal Locations. Multiple kinds of Spy Balloons have been detected around the World in recent years, the Official said. Some were Small and Fast; others like last week’s Intruder were Bigger and Slower moving. The Intelligence Community issued its First Public Report on Unknown incidents in 2021, but that Document failed to offer explanations for all but One of the 144 Incidents it looked at.
After that Report, the Pentagon and Intelligence Agencies began to intensify efforts to attribute and explain more incidents. Last year they participated in an Open Hearing with the House Intelligence Committee, and the Biden Administration offered a Closed-Door Briefing to Congress on Chinese Surveillance efforts in August, 2022, according to a White House Spokeswoman. A follow-up Report on the Unexplained Incidents was delivered to Congress last month and looked at 366 additional Reports. While 171 remained Unexplained, the Report labeled 163 of them as Balloons.
U.S. Officials believe that, in addition to the Balloon Surveillance, China has used Quadcopter Drones to Spy on the U.S. Military. A Classified Report sent to Congress last month, said at least Two Incidents of Surveillance by a Foreign Power may have involved Advanced Technology poorly understood by the U.S. While that Report did Not attribute those Incidents to a specific Country, two American Officials said it is likely those Incidents involved Chinese efforts to Spy on Military Installations.
American Officials, Kirby said, have determined that the Balloon was Maneuverable. “It is true that this balloon had the ability to maneuver itself,” he said. “So it had propellers. It had a rudder, if you will, to change direction.” He said that the Jet Stream provided the rest of the Balloon’s Propulsion.
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