The Biden Administration tried to hide information about Chinese spy balloon
Government officials complained behind closed doors that the political outcry over the balloon was "disproportionate to any threat it posed to the national security of the United States."
La Administración de Biden intentó mantener en secreto la información sobre el globo espía chino | Cordon Press/
On February 2, 2023, authorities reported that they were monitoring a Chinese balloon flying over US territory, specifically in the state of Montana, which caused public alarm. However, according to several officials, the Joe Biden Administration had been aware of the object since January.
"On a Friday evening last January, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the Air Force commander in charge of defending American airspace from foreign intrusion, called President Joe Biden’s top military adviser, Gen. Mark Milley," revealed NBC, which spoke with VanHerck.
According to several sources consulted by the media, Democratic government officials intended to keep the information they had collected about the object secret. "Before it was publicly discovered, there was the intention to study it and let it pass and never tell anyone about it," explained one of the interviewed officials.
In that regard, another official explained that in reality it took them at least a month to inform citizens of what was happening so as not to affect the intelligence work they were doing. "To the extent any of this was kept quiet at all, that was in large part to protect intel equities related to finding and tracking," said the other source consulted by NBC. Additionally, he noted that "There was no intention to keep this from Congress at any point."
"We are not where we need to be," says VanHerck about the balloon
After almost a year of that event, Glen VanHerck warned that the Chinese balloon program is still active and that the United States has not managed to develop the systems it needs to detect high-altitude spy balloons before they pose a threat.
VanHerck insisted that there must be better communication between intelligence agencies, explaining that the US is still "not where we need to be."
Lastly, NBC learned that "Privately, Biden administration officials complain that the political outcry over the balloon was wildly disproportionate to any threat it posed to U.S. national security."
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