Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) claimed in a letter Wednesday that the Pentagon has not satisfactorily answered their questions about the Chinese spy balloon that was discovered in United States airspace in January.
The letter, addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, claimed that the Pentagon was not clear on the sequence of events when it comes to the spy balloon. The senators had sent a letter to Austin last month that sought clarification on the timing of when U.S. intelligence discovered the balloon and when President Joe Biden was notified.
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“In particular, we await documentation demonstrating when senior officials learned of the balloon and at what point you, and the President, were provided response options,” the senators wrote. “The simple point of the letter was to establish baseline facts to inform all members of Congress.”
The confusion centers on the belief that Gen. Glen VanHerck, the leader of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, notified his chain of command about the balloon on Jan. 28 when it was over the Aleutian Islands, but that Austin was not aware of the balloon until a few days later when the balloon had traveled over Alaska, Canada, and was back in U.S. airspace again.
VanHerck faced scrutiny from the House of Representatives on Wednesday as well. House Armed Services Committee member Don Bacon (R-NE) asked VanHerck whether the Pentagon specifically waited to brief Biden until the public had spotted the balloon.
“Congressman, I can’t answer that question because I didn’t specifically discuss that with the White House,” VanHerck responded.
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The senators also expressed disappointment that their letter was answered 10 days after their deadline and was answered by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl instead of Austin. The senators blasted Kahl for leaking previously classified information about Chinese balloons being discovered under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“It remains unclear whether this leak was cleared internally through the proper channels. Either way, it was a brazen attempt to shift the blame,” the senators wrote. “We sincerely hope you will hold Dr. Kahl accountable for his politicization of previously classified material.”
