#shorts On 2/10/2023, Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked National Security Council spokesman Adm. John Kirby, “John, so the Pentagon ordered this new object be taken down over Alaska —
MR. KIRBY: The President ordered it.
Heinrich: The President ordered it. So, is it a fair takeaway then that the Pentagon regrets not taking down the first balloon before it crossed the entire U.S.?
MR. KIRBY: Well, I’m not going to speak for the Pentagon. I can tell you that the President doesn’t regret the way that we handled the first balloon. That time we —
First of all, apples and oranges here, in terms of size.
As I said, this was the size of a small car. And it was over a very sparsely populated area, but also, more critically, over — it was over water — water space when we ordered this down, as we did the — as we did the last one.
But a completely different size. And the debris field for this we expect to be much, much smaller than would have been for the other one. That’s difference one.
Difference two: We knew for a fact that the PRC balloon that we shot down last week was, in fact, a surveillance asset and capable of surveillance over sensitive military sites and that it had self-propulsion and maneuver capabilities. There’s no indication that this one did.
The other one — the first one — was able to maneuver and loiter, slow down, speed up. It was a very — it was very purposeful, that flight path, within inside the — inside the jet stream.
Heinrich: But that would suggest that maybe you should have taken it out —
MR. KIRBY: And —
Heinrich: — over Alaska too, though? But, well —
MR. KIRBY: Well, I think — look, the Pentagon has already spoken to this question about whether or not they should have or could have shot it down over Alaska airspace. So I would refer you to — there was hours and hours of testimony yesterday on that.
Heinrich: On the communications, though, we still don’t know — and correct me if I’m wrong — we don’t know what intelligence or communications could have been collected or what devices they were targeting, as I understand it. So, that being said, how can the President say it was not a major breach? We don’t know that.
MR. KIRBY: What we do know is — we knew the basic flight path of this thing. And we were able to take steps at sensitive military sites that we believed would be along the flight path to significantly curtail any intelligence ability that the Chinese could get — get from — from the balloon — certainly curtail anything that would be above and beyond, you know, what they normally try to collect through other means.
other clips of this published longer video is here: https://youtu.be/4KTbM7wWKJ0
Biden Spox John Kirby Reiterates Biden Does Not Regret Not Immediately Downing Chinese Spy Balloon