US Firms Potentially Helped Make Chinese Spy Balloon, Senators Say

Once more, the sad reality that America regularly builds up its own enemies demonstrates that our greatest enemy comes from within.

Republican Senators Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) put pressure on the Biden administration after officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the State Department would not dismiss the possibility that the recent Chinese surveillance balloon that flew over the United States was made with the help of U.S. manufacturing.

Members of the Senate on Thursday participated in a briefing with officials from the three agencies. During the briefing, the question of American manufacturing’s role in the building of the balloon came up.

According to Hawley and Sullivan, the officials would not give a conclusive answer one way or the other when questioned on the matter.

“American companies shouldn’t be helping build spy satellites that are used against their own citizens,” said Sullivan to the press after the meeting.

“Maybe there’s nothing to be said about that,” the senator added. “But somebody asked about it, and nobody, nobody in that briefing said, ‘oh, it’s not a problem.’”

Sullivan encouraged administration officials to publicize the contents of the briefing.

“What we were just briefed on there, I think it should just be made public, right. Let the American people know the extent of the challenges,” he said. “You know, when JFK realized we had missiles on the island of Cuba, right? The United States went public, so we should let people know when this has happened previously. Explain it, explain why we didn’t, but I think that’s going to be up to the executive branch….”

Speaking to Fox, Hawley mirrored Sullivan’s remarks, saying, “of course I’m concerned about the possibility of that.”

“I don’t think there was any definitive answer on that. But … the question was asked by a senator and, you know, I think that that’s, that’s a very, a very disturbing possibility,” Hawley said.

The senator didn’t mince words when it came to rebuking the administration for its handling of the balloon situation:

Obviously, the other thing that [was made] crystal clear from this briefing was how unprepared, totally unprepared the administration and frankly, the Pentagon was for this to happen.

And listen, they’ve already made it public that we’ve known that there have been previous balloon flights over U.S. territories and, of course, the United States in years past. They knew that already, and yet they had nothing prepared to deal with this espionage balloon that came right over the United States. I mean, it’s really it is, it is an incredible, incredible lack of planning. And frankly, I think major, major lapses of judgment.”

According to Fox News, which spoke with a source familiar with Thursday’s classified briefing, the Chinese balloon featured Western-made parts that had English writing on them.

The outlet reported on which administration officials were involved in the briefing:

The officials who led Thursday’s briefing included Morgan Muir, deputy director for mission integration for ODNI; Dr. Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense policy for DOD; Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II, director of operations of the Joint Staff; Gen. Van Herck, commander of United States Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command; and Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State.

Prior to the meeting, the State Department stated: “We are confident that the balloon manufacturer has a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor of the PLA [People’s Liberation Army], according to information published in an official procurement portal for the PLA.”

The fact that the Chinese were so openly and brazenly allowed to fly spy technology over the United States before public outrage finally prompted the administration to take it down proves the extent to which Beijing influences American policy.

But spy balloons are the least of the nation’s concerns. As The New American has reported, for nearly a decade, Chinese companies with ties to the ruling communist regime have been buying up military academies in the United States, including the one attended by former President Donald J. Trump.

For example, in 2017, a Chinese education conglomerate bought the Florida Preparatory Academy — only two years after having acquired the New York Military Academy, Trump’s alma mater.

Some voices in government are at last calling for a stop to the selling out of our country. At least 11 state legislatures are considering legislation to stop or restrict foreign countries from purchasing American land.

That includes Montana and North Dakota, where the “U.S. Air Force recently warned that a $700 million corn mill proposed near a military base by the American subsidiary of a Chinese company would risk national security.”

At the federal level, Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) last week introduced the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act, which is “aimed at preventing China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in, purchasing, leasing or otherwise acquiring U.S. farmland.”