The Biden administration’s approach to the Chinese spy balloon and the subsequent objects has been incompetent and completely lacking in transparency from the outset, with their ever evolving stories on the matter.
As I noted, the story about when the U.S. first detected the Chinese spy balloon showed how they hadn’t been straight from the very beginning of this saga, telling us Jan. 28 when in fact reports showed it was earlier.
Now, in a statement released a 10 p.m. on a Friday before a holiday weekend (talk about timing), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command announced U.S officials have officially called off the search for two of the objects that were shot down.
“U.S. Northern Command recommended that search operations conclude today near Deadhorse, Alaska, and on Lake Huron, as search activities have discovered no debris from airborne objects shot down on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, 2023. The U.S. military, federal agencies, and Canadian partners conducted systematic searches of each area using a variety of capabilities, including airborne imagery and sensors, surface sensors and inspections, and subsurface scans, and did not locate debris,” the joint statement read.
It continued: “In Deadhorse, Alaska, U.S. Northern Command worked closely with the Alaska National Guard Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to position teams to expedite recovery should searches locate debris. Arctic conditions and sea ice instability informed decisions to conclude search operations in this location. Air safety perimeters will be lifted after flight operations conclude today.”
“On Lake Huron, the Unified Command Group consisting of capabilities from U.S. Coast Guard District 9, the FBI, Canadian Coast Guard, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not identified debris from the airborne object after multiple days of surface searches and subsurface scans. Air and maritime safety perimeters have been lifted,” NORAD and U.S. Northern Command said.
It also looks like they called off the search for the third object as well. The RCMP announced that they were discontinuing the search for the object that allegedly was shot down over the Yukon on February 11, after they said they could not locate the debris.
All this followed the news that they might have shot down a local hobbyist group’s balloon that went missing. The Biden team admitted in a meeting that the objects might be civilian balloons, and Joe Biden snapped at reporters when they tried to ask him questions.
At this point, the Biden team may not want to confirm what it is because that would just confirm that Biden overreacted in the backlash to the Chinese spy balloon and took out a $12 science project. Not the most effective use of a $400,000 missile. That might explain the timing of this announcement as well, hoping no one notices the search being called off. Otherwise, more people would no doubt be making the point Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) makes here.
At this point, this is only going to raise more questions about transparency and Biden’s actions.
