It’s sounding like the Pentagon is saying there was a “Domain Awareness Gap” that allowed this not to be reported to the President or… anywhere, really. That it was known about the previous three times, but … it wasn’t… acted on in any way? They made clear it didn’t even get to NORAD much less the president’s desk or daily briefings.
This is confusing. Pentagon says it had 'an awareness gap' that led to failure to detect 3 Chinese balloons under Trump | CNN Politics
I am thankful that the information did not hit the desk of tfg. He wanted to use nukes on a hurricane. I can’t imagine what measures he would have insisted on to take down a balloon. On the other hand he was the president and should have been informed. Was the Pentagon also afraid of what his reaction would have been?
It’s sounding like the layers of the pentagon where “inform the president” exists also wasn’t informed about this, but other layers were. I’m almost certain there will have to be congressional hearings on this now.
uh oh.
The Senate hearings might be saner.
some details of note:
The Chinese have been dispatching intelligence-collection balloons for years. The Pentagon official said Saturday night that five Chinese balloons have circumnavigated the globe, and China has conducted 20 to 30 balloon missions globally over the past decade. --David Ignatius
Ignatius says the official believes any intelligence the balloon gathered would have been of limited value, including the possibility that “the mission was an attempt to trigger U.S. radar or electronic-warfare signatures, which would be valuable in a future conflict.” And the episode may end up being an overall win for the U.S., particularly if the balloon’s intelligence pod can be recovered:
The pod apparently fell into the Atlantic largely intact, the official said, and it should provide a useful opportunity to examine and reverse-engineer Chinese intelligence and communications systems.
Thus, from an intelligence standpoint, Pentagon officials believe that the strange week-long balloon voyage was ultimately of more benefit to the United States than to China. By waiting until the balloon was over U.S. territorial waters, the Biden administration was able to maximize the likelihood that the pod could be recovered while minimizing the risk that Americans would be injured by falling debris.
and
U.S. Northern Command General Glen David VanHerck told reporters on Monday that the alleged spy balloon was up to 200 feet tall and carried a jetliner-size payload weighing more than few thousand pounds.
He also said that NORTHCOM did not detect the previous alleged Chinese spy-balloon incursions into U.S. airspace, but rather the U.S. intelligence community did so after the fact.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
