Two Republican senators wrote a letter accusing Pentagon official Colin Kahl of being responsible for leaking classified information about Chinese spy balloons.
Senators Roger Wicker and Marco Rubio identified Kahl as the person who revealed to reporters that spy balloons sent by the Chinese Communist Party may also have been infiltrated into U.S. territory during the Donald Trump administration.
"Soon after the balloon became public knowledge, Dr. Kahl leaked previously classified information to the press about prior Chinese surveillance balloons during the Trump administration," the text states.
According to the senators, the Pentagon official gave this information with the intention of deflecting blame from the Biden Administration for the way it handled the situation with the Chinese spy flying object that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
Wicker and Rubio highlighted that when Kahl gave that classified information, he failed to include the information that the Trump Administration did not have time to respond to the Chinese balloons that were infiltrated during that administration because they were discovered much later.
.@ColinKahl appears to have leaked classified information to reporters about Chinese spy balloons in a misleading fashion, all to deflect from his own failures at the Pentagon. He must be held accountable. https://t.co/tyiePooAEQ
— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) March 11, 2023
"It remains unclear whether this leak was cleared internally through the proper channels. Either way, it was a brazen attempt to shift blame. Most egregiously, Dr. Kahl omitted a key detail in his distribution of this sensitive information to the press – the prior Chinese balloons were only discovered much later. The Trump administration did not have an opportunity to respond at the time," the letter stated.
The legislators concluded their text by calling for the official to be held accountable for politicizing classified materials.
"This type of behavior is the reason every Senate Republican voted against Dr. Kahl’s nomination in 2021," they said.
