Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Biden’s delay in shooting down the Chinese spy balloon that crossed the country earlier this month brought “global shame” on the US.
“The entire world saw a slow-moving balloon transiting Montana, Kansas, South Carolina — and the US of America did nothing,” Pompeo, who is predicted to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, told The Hill in an interview published Tuesday.
The previous CIA director and Kansas congressman added that the Biden administration’s dawdling handed China “an unlimited geopolitical advantage.”
“I can’t imagine that the chance of some falling debris over a spot like Montana exceeded the chance of world shame,” Pompeo told the outlet.
The spy balloon was first detected entering US airspace near Alaska on Jan. 28 but its presence wasn’t known to the general public until the aircraft was spotted hovering over Montana on Feb. 1.
For the following three days, the balloon sailed over key military installations until two US Air Force F-22 fighter jets downed it off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4.
Biden has said he gave the order to shoot down the balloon on Feb. 1, but was advised by the military to attend until it reached the Atlantic, where it may very well be downed safely and the debris recovered.
But Pompeo said the orb might have been vacuuming sensitive data the whole time it remained airborne.
“I don’t know what it collected … I don’t know what signals intelligence it can have had. I don’t know what imagery it can have been capable of garner,” he told The Hill.
Since Feb. 4, the US military has downed three other unknown objects – over Alaska, the Yukon Territory in Canada and Lake Huron.
Their origins have yet to be determined.
Pompeo also pushed back on claims that Chinese spy balloons traveled over the US thrice through the Trump administration, chalking them as much as attempts at distraction.
“You’re bringing it up too, and this is strictly what the Biden administration wants you talking about: ‘Look over here. See this shiny object. Trump, Trump, Trump.’ Right? This wasn’t remotely the identical thing. … As best as I can tell, nobody was aware,” he said. “And that is fundamentally different from what has transpired over the past two weeks.”
