Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed that the Senate will get a briefing on China amid the suspected spy balloon controversy.
“The full Senate — all senators of both parties — will have a larger and full China briefing next week. And that is something that I think will be very important, serious and hopefully nonpolitical,” Schumer said at a press conference. “Under this full brief, all senators in both parties will be briefed by the Department of Defense on their office of Net Assessment (ONA) US-China Overmatch Study.”
CHINA ‘STRONGLY DISAPPROVES OF’ US SHOOTING DOWN SPY BALLOON, DANGLES RETALIATION
The briefing for the full Senate body will entail details about China’s surveillance capabilities from the Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment. The members of the so-called Gang of Eight, who are cleared for classified debriefs, are expected to be briefed about China by Tuesday, said Schumer.
Schumer also shrugged off Republican criticisms of President Joe Biden’s handling of the suspected spy balloon that flew through United States airspace for about eight days. Detractors rebuffed the Biden administration for not taking action sooner to shoot down the high-altitude balloon. The military shot it down Saturday after informing the public of its existence Thursday.
“We are hearing GOP criticism of the balloon mission. That they are saying we should have shot down the balloon the minute we saw it. I would use two words in answering these GOP criticisms: They are premature and they are political,” Schumer said.
“Our friends are playing politics with US intelligence. We sent a clear message to China that this is not acceptable. We protected civilians. We gained more intelligence while protecting our own sensitive information. And the bottom line here is shooting down the surveillance balloon over water wasn’t just the safest option, but it was the one that maximized our intelligence payload,” he added.
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This is a breaking story and will be updated.
