Biden called the China spy balloon 'not a major [security] breach' (and that's aged BADLY)

Back in February President Biden was doing damage control after yet another failure from this administration:

Biden: "The idea that a balloon could traverse — break American airspace is — anyway, this is not a major breach." pic.twitter.com/evpA40u7K2

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 10, 2023

“Not a major breach”? That of course is not the case:

Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it https://t.co/8nQXAGMuc0

— CNBC (@CNBC) April 3, 2023

Claims from Biden and others in this administration that the balloon wasn’t a major breach have of course aged badly:

The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official.

China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real time, the three officials said. The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images, the officials said.

The three officials said China could have gathered much more intelligence from sensitive sites if not for the administration’s efforts to move around potential targets and obscure the balloon’s ability to pick up their electronic signals by stopping them from broadcasting or emitting signals.

“China could have gathered much more intelligence from sensitive sites if not for the administration’s efforts”? Those “efforts” didn’t include what would have eliminated the intel gathering altogether, which would have been to simply shoot it down.

Pres. Biden doing damage control in February: "It’s not a major breach. Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming."

Which was dutifully echoed by the journos.

Anything to get out of the news cycle. https://t.co/qxNBxNEaCh

— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) April 3, 2023

And all journalists cared about was helping Biden do damage control while it traveled over the entirety of the country. https://t.co/wxnI7PvH8b

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 3, 2023

Can we get an update @jimsciutto? pic.twitter.com/idvfLRTQKY

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 3, 2023

https://t.co/3eOC6cVrDg pic.twitter.com/xG3Ptauz4n

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 3, 2023

We probably won’t get many “updates” from this administration or anybody else:

Lets be honest…there is not a single journalist or Democrat that cares that President Biden, VP Harris or anyone else outright lied to the American people about the chinese intelligence balloon.

They are totally fine with lying to you, and not being ashamed about it.

— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) April 3, 2023

Biden assumed his usual posture on this issue (along with many others):

https://t.co/KrCGEUs7Ch pic.twitter.com/HoPNuZY1dy

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 3, 2023

China’s excuse was of course BS the entire time:

China also said the balloon malfunctioned and just blew off course and they could not control it. Now? pic.twitter.com/8Zzxv1bJM2

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 3, 2023

The CCP just expected everybody to believe the balloon blew off course, was uncontrollable and just happened to float over US military sites? Nice try but no.

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