he has any high level phone call with president xi. that is something that has to be in place, and when you think about the incident now with the chinese balloon. imagine if there was something in the south china sea, imagine if there is something where the two militaries, the u.s. and china, we re facing off. we have a hotline. i think that is something that will be worked on in the near future. let me ask you about this reporting from the wall street journal of balloons dating back to the trump administration. the wall street journal says that during the trump administration, intelligence officials were aware of suspected balloons and, quote, harbored concerns that they were related to china, believing beijing was using them to test radar jamming systems over sensitive u.s. military sites. this information apparently was not shared with trump and his staff at the time. a, do you think that is common that something at that level it would not necessarily make its way all the way up t
we had multiple channels, diplomatic, military, i am sure others that kind of prevented nuclear war, so to speak. it does not seem we have those same channels of communication right now with the chinese, am i incorrect in saying that? right, so that is a bit worrisome. look, i was in the cia for 26 years, even during the darkest days of the cold war, the cia and kgb had some kind of a relationship. we talked. we continue to do so now, amazingly enough. while we have a u.s. embassy in beijing, it seems like from reports at the pentagon, military to military channels are not working. that is something that perhaps the president can discuss when he has any high level phone call with president xi. that is something that has to be in place, and when you think about the incident now with the chinese balloon. imagine if there was something in the south china sea, imagine if there is something where the two militaries, the u.s. and china, we re facing off. we have a hotline. i think that is
future. let me ask you about this reporting from the wall street journal of balloons dating back to the trump administration. the wall street journal says that during the trump administration, intelligence officials were aware of suspected balloons and, quote, harbored concerns that they were related to china, believing beijing was using them to test radar jamming systems over sensitive u.s. military sites. this information apparently was not shared with trump and his staff at the time. a, do you think that is common that something at that level it would not necessarily make its way all the way up to the president for action and what do you make of this report that china has been using spy balloons for longer than at least the public right now currently knows? do we have a sense of how long they ve been engaged in this practice? sure, i am not surprised at all. chinese espionage activities is massive. anything we can learn from this whole affair is the degree to which chinese spies
loses his battle with cancer. and millions watch. a rare sight in the sky. solar eclipse. good morning to you. welcome to early start. welcome back, ashleigh. we got you a new look. how do you like it? the music. it s such a special day. i m going to assume it s for me. it is for you. 5:00 eastern, very early in the morning. let s get started. we re going to start with breaking news. new trouble for the former imf chief, dominick strauss-kahn. he could face new charges in the alleged gang-rape of a belgian prostitute, during a party at her hotel in washington, d.c. this was almost two years ago. french prosecutors saying they re launching a new investigation, based on statements two escorts made to police. dominick strauss-kahn was imf chief. he was also arrested after a new york hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. but he was cleared after her story fell apart. also, world leaders gathering in chicago to decide the exit strategy for the war in afghanistan.
that s a story at least the french prosecutors are investigating, launching an investigation into this. a french newspaper says these allegations came from statements that two escorts made to belgian police. dsk held one of the most powerful positions in the world of course as imf chief. you may also remember he was arrested after a new york hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. he was cleared on that charge after her story fell apart. soledad? all right. christine, thank you for the update. we re watching that story obviously. it has been chaos in chicago as thousands of protesters against the war in afghanistan are at the nato summit. demonstrators were clashing with police who were wearing riot gear yesterday. they were voicing their opposition to the war. police arrested at least 45 people. the protests happened just blocks away from where world leaders are meeting to talk about the end game in afghanistan. this brings us to ted roulands who was in the middle of t