These reports raise all sorts of questions about competence and credibility at the White House … to the extent we expect either at this point. When ground observers in Montana first spotted China’s spy balloon, Joe Biden and his team made it seem as though it had taken them by surprise. Later, we learned that NORAD had first picked up the anomaly over the Aleutian Islands, but didn’t know what it was.
Now, we find out that “US officials” had tracked it since its launch in China, as both CBS News and the Washington Post report — and still let it traverse the continental US before finally shooting it down. Only after it was spotted by ground observers did they react at all, and even then played dumb:
U.S. intelligence officials were tracking the spy balloon that was shot down earlier this month since it lifted off from the south coast of China, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Read more…
