Suspected Chinese spy balloon latest

In a very tense secret briefing meeting Thursday morning, several Republicans criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the suspected Chinese spy balloon, including Conservatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Rosendale and Andy Ogles, according to sources familiar with the briefing.

Greene said the Pentagon made the president look weak, prompting the briefings to attempt to create a detailed timeline of actions, the sources said.

President Joe Biden gave the order to launch the balloon whenever the Pentagon deemed it safe, sources said, and the Pentagon eventually made the call when that action was appropriate.

Some GOP lawmakers have pointedly raised questions about why the Biden administration didn’t attempt to shoot down the balloon before it entered the continental US — either while it was over Alaska or earlier.

Once it was over US territory, officials previously argued that the benefits of gathering additional information about the balloon as it flew over far outweighed the risk of being shot down over land.

In Thursday’s briefing, officials said they did not move sooner to launch the balloon, in part for fear it could provoke an escalation in military tensions with China or even a military conflict. They said they were limited in what actions they could take given the protocols they must follow to engage militarily, they argued, according to similar sources.

The US has noted little new information has been gleaned from the balloon’s operations, as the Chinese appear to have stopped broadcasting to the mainland as soon as the US found out about the balloon, sources said. Also, the US has implemented protocols to protect its sensitive information in case of such espionage operations and these protocols.

Sources familiar with the briefings said there was debate that the US believes the order to send the balloon was issued by part of the Chinese government without President Xi Jinping’s knowledge and that the motivation was unclear.