A suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. Since then, defense officials have stated this is not the first time a surveillance balloon has breached U.S. airspace.
Officials say spy balloons from China have crossed into U.S. airspace on at least four previous occasions, three of those being during the Trump administration. The Wall Street Journal reported that the intrusions during the Trump administration were unknown until recently.
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Defense officials told the outlet that the previous flights were much shorter over U.S. airspace and that they were not detected until after the Trump administration left office. The anonymous officials also stated that they plan to give key former Trump officials briefings on the intrusions.
In a statement confirming the Department of Defense was aware of the balloon, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder also noted that “instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years.” The department said that once the spy balloon was detected, they “acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
Various members of the Trump administration, including former President Donald Trump, have denied that any balloons from China flew over the U.S. during his four-year term. The former president said that the claims that Chinese spy balloons flew over U.S. airspace during his time in office were “FAKE DISINFORMATION” in a post to his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday.
Former director of National Intelligence under Trump, John Ratcliffe, denounced the reports from the Pentagon Sunday, saying on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures that “it didn’t happen.”
“I can refute it. It didn’t happen,” Ratcliffe said Sunday.
He further added that he believed the claims of previous intrusions during the Trump administration appeared to be a deflection.
“Every time something goes wrong in the Biden administration, there’s one of two responses. They either find a way to blame the Trump administration, or they try and find a way to say the Trump administration did it too,” Ratcliffe said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) also described the flight of a Chinese balloon over military installations in the middle of the U.S. as “unprecedented,” despite a senior defense official telling reporters Saturday that Chinese surveillance balloons had “[flown over the] continental United States briefly” multiple times in the past.
The most recent balloon originally entered U.S. airspace as it crossed over Alaska on Jan. 28, before then making its way through Canada and entering the mainland U.S. near northern Idaho on Jan. 31. Officials say they did not shoot down the balloon sooner due to the risk of damage to people and property on the ground.
The route of the balloon put it near various military installations across the middle of the U.S. before leaving over the coast of the Carolinas, where it was shot down.
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The intrusion into U.S. airspace by the balloon caused Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his previously planned trip to China, saying that “conditions were not conducive for a constructive visit at this time.”
China has denied any wrongdoing, insisting the balloon was a civilian aircraft used for meteorological purposes and that it simply veered off course. The communist country said it “strongly disapproves” of the balloon being shot down.
