Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is an odd guy. He’s always saying and doing the weirdest things.
But Chuck Schumer’s big mouth just landed him in huge trouble this time.
China may have more intelligence capacity than we had anticipated.
Speaking on ABC News’ Last Week Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asserted that the surveillance balloon that traversed the continental United States this month was unnecessary from an intelligence standpoint.
According to Schumer, the American observation of the balloon was a success for American intelligence.
Following the balloon as it flew over the United States provided us with a wealth of intelligence information, Schumer claimed.
In answer to a query from host George Stephanopoulos, Schumer downplayed the intelligence threat the aircraft posed to the country.
“Didn’t the Chinese get enormous intelligence as well?” asked Stephanopoulos.
“Well, they could’ve been getting it anyway,” Schumer said.
According to an ABC News transcript, he didn’t provide an explanation for the claim, and Stephanopoulos didn’t press the issue.
CHUCK SCHUMER: "We got enormous intelligence information from surveilling the [Chinese spy] balloon as it went over the U.S."
Q: "Didn’t get the Chinese get enormous intelligence as well?"
SCHUMER: "Well they could've been getting it anyway." pic.twitter.com/mQfkejWApr
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 12, 2023
However, if one were to take the words at face value, the majority leader of the United States Senate had just appeared on live television to inform the public that American national security secrets were so compromised that a spy balloon from a rival country flying over the continental United States posed no special threat.
According to Schumer, the U.S. actually benefited more from the incident by being able to examine the balloon to learn more about China’s espionage activities.
But we need to be aware of what they’re doing, he added “And we don’t know exactly.”
If Schumer is wrong or intentionally misleading, it would mean that by letting the balloon to pass through American skies unimpeded until it was shot down over the Atlantic on February 4, the United States gave away a week’s worth of potentially crucial intelligence to the Chinese.
According to ABC News, the balloon first entered American airspace over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on January 28.
The way the Biden administration handled the balloon has drawn criticism.
After being seen in Montana, the aircraft traveled across the whole United States before being shot down and being retrieved for examination. Due to the safety hazard to ground-based citizens, the federal government decided against quickly shooting down the drone.
The Democratic senator declined to elaborate on why he believed the balloon might be gathering data that the Chinese government already had.
According to Axios, Schumer said that it was “wild” that the United States government wasn’t aware of China’s balloon capabilities until a few months ago.
The balloon’s trip above the American heartland represents the most recent increase in China’s pattern of spying and surveillance.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, China possesses some of the most sophisticated intelligence capabilities in the whole globe.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
