U.S. intelligence agencies believe China has suspended all surveillance balloon operations since the U.S. shoot-down of down a spy balloon in February.
“We need to provide the resources and I think this committee on both sides of the aisle wants to make sure our nation is safe, and provide the resources to do that," Sen. Jon Tester said Tuesday.
When a Chinese surveillance balloon floated over the continental US, it became the biggest story in the world. It could have also been a much-needed chance at direct diplomacy between the world most powerful nation and its greatest rival, writes Robert Rust of the Union of Concerned Scientists a chance the Biden administration wasted. When Joe Biden took office in 2021, many analysts and watchers in both China and the United States expected at least a slight relaxation of the previous administration’s tough line on China. Halfway into Biden’s first term, such a relaxation has not been forthcoming, and tension is arguably higher than ever in the bilateral relationship. Recently, the administration has fumbled the opportunity to diffuse this tension. It could have more firmly refuted claims by an Air Force general that the United States and China would be at war within two years, and it could have followed its downing of a Chinese “spy balloon” by pressing ahead with the Secret
Officials say the U.S. believes that Navy, Coast Guard, and FBI personnel collected all of the balloon debris, including equipment that could reveal what information it was able to monitor and collect.
Officials say the U.S. believes that Navy, Coast Guard, and FBI personnel collected all of the balloon debris, including equipment that could reveal what information it was able to monitor and collect.