The government suggested Donald Trump ignored three balloon incursions into our air space by the Chinese communists during his presidency. Forced to explain, they now say NORAD learned of them later by other means and never detected them while Donald Trump was president.
When is someone going to get fired?
Air Force General VanHerck said that they didn’t detect the balloons and “we have to figure that out.” Maybe the news reporter who spotted the balloon in Montana should work for NORAD.
THEY DIDN’T DETECT THE SPY BALLOONS DURING TRUMP’S TERM
“Every day as NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America,” Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck of the North American Aerospace Defense Command told reporters. “I will tell you that we did not detect those [previous] threats. And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out.”
Breaking Defense.com reports US Northern Command does not have the correct mix of sensor capabilities, according to the commanding general responsible for homeland defense.
The White House had said there were three incursions under Donald Trump. After Donald Trump and his former staff said they were never told, Gen. VanHerck and NSC spokesperson John Kirby had to clarify or alter their statement.
They said US intelligence agencies had used “forensics” to identify the Chinese spycraft incursions only after President Biden took office in January 2021.
“The intel community after the fact … assessed those threats from additional means of collection and made us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transit in North America,” said VanHerck, who declined to describe the kinds of information he said intelligence officials received to confirm the prior Chinese balloon trespassing.
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As for the latest episode, Gen. Van Herck said it was not a threat.
We were assured that they didn’t need to shoot the spy balloon down because it presented no threat. However, Gen. VanHerck said it could have carried explosives and there was a jet-sized device dangling from the bottom.
“The balloon assessment was up to 200 feet tall [and] it weighed a couple thousand pounds,” said VanHerck, the commander for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command, in a call with several reporters. He added that the balloon was potentially carrying explosives but had no evidence of it either, noting that there was a device hanging from the bottom that was about the size of a small jet.
“We took maximum precaution to prevent any intel collection,” VanHerck said. “It was my assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America,” VanHerck said, according to reports. “This is under my NORAD hat, and therefore I could not take immediate action [against the balloon] because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent.”
It’s unlikely they could prevent intel collection. It was maneuverable and stopped over sensitive nuclear sites.
Debris was retrieved from the sea off the South Carolina coast and is being examined by the FBI.
NORAD’s budget is billions each year, and they can’t spot a balloon, but they’ll try to figure it out.
NORAD now admits it did not (at the time) detect the three intelligence gathering balloons that flew over parts of America, sent by China, during the Trump administration. NORAD learned of them later “by other means.” https://t.co/ZK1puyHEPa
— America, Amen. Tim Sumner 🇺🇸 (@SgtTim911) February 6, 2023
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