Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Sunday that the Chinese surveillance balloon that traveled across the country “caused a lot of harm.”
The Texas Republican argued on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that by not shooting the balloon down in advance, the Biden administration basically let China acquire intelligence on important national security areas.
The significant information was revealed after host Margaret Brennan questioned McCaul over recent restrictions placed on six Chinese businesses whose technology was utilized in the development of the spy balloon.
As the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in this Congress, McCaul responded, “This will be one of my top priorities to stop the export of technology to China that then ends up going into their most cutting-edge weapons systems, in this case a sophisticated surveillance balloon that travelled across three nuclear sites.”
“I think it’s crucial to note that the spy balloon flew above our Strategic Command in Omaha, which is our most sensitive nuclear facility and was so sensitive that President Bush was flown there after 9/11, in Montana, the location of the triad site for air, land, and sea nuclear weapons. And then deployed above Missouri, where the B-2 bomber is located.”
“It caused a great deal of harm,” he added.
The government has publicly claimed that it reduced the spy balloon’s capacity for gathering intelligence. However, McCaul claimed he is not persuaded.
“The flight pattern of the balloon, in my opinion, tells a story about what the Chinese were up to as they controlled this aircraft all across the United States. I can’t go into the detail of the intelligence document, but if it was still transmitting passing over these three very sensitive nuclear sites,” he said.
“In my opinion, traversing those locations would result in significant harm. Keep in mind that a balloon could observe much more of the ground than a satellite could,” he said.
Later in the interview, McCall made the speculative claim that China may have launched the spy balloon to assess American military strength in the event that the Cold War between China and Taiwan is resolved.
“It was carried out under provocation in order to obtain intelligence on the three main nuclear installations in this nation,” according to McCaul.
