Skip to main content

Biden says he authorized Pentagon days ago to shoot down Chinese spy balloon https://ift.tt/f7n8QYw

President Joe Biden said shortly after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon that he gave the order to shoot it down on Wednesday but that military officials waited until Saturday to do so.

"I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible," Biden told reporters on Saturday. "They decided without doing any damage to people on the ground they decided that the best time to do that was when it got over water outside within a 12 mile limit."

"They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it and we'll have more to report on a little later."

Biden added, "I told them to shoot it down on Wednesday. They said to me let's wait for the safest place to do it."

CHINA SPY BALLOON SHOWS COUNTRY IS PREPARING CITIZENS FOR WAR THAT COULD COME AT ‘ANY TIME’: EXPERT

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also acknowledged that the order was given to the military on Wednesday and that the military decided to wait. 

"On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path," Lloyd said.

US AERONAUTICS BALLOON BECOMES MOST-TRACKED AIRCRAFT AMID CHINESE BALLOON CONCERN

"After careful analysis, U.S. military commanders had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload"

Biden has faced intense scrutiny from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, for waiting days to shoot down the balloon as it hovered across sensitive military locations across the United States.

Fox News Digital confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the Chinese balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina after the FAA issued a ground stop for flights at three airports across North and South Carolina.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FAA approves the first fully automated commercial drone flights, letting Massachusetts-based American Robotics operate its drones in rural areas below 400 feet (Wall Street Journal) https://ift.tt/3oQGbvc

Wall Street Journal : FAA approves the first fully automated commercial drone flights, letting Massachusetts-based American Robotics operate its drones in rural areas below 400 feet   —  American Robotics granted permission to operate drones without hands-on piloting  —  U.S. aviation regulators have approved …
Post a Comment
Read more

Brazil says Huawei won't be a supplier on its upcoming 5G and private federal network bid, but is not barred from operating elsewhere in the country (Angelica Mari/ZDNet) https://ift.tt/3qIP4r5

Angelica Mari / ZDNet : Brazil says Huawei won't be a supplier on its upcoming 5G and private federal network bid, but is not barred from operating elsewhere in the country   —  The Chinese firm is not considered to be apt to supply equipment to the government's own set-up, to be built by the winners of the upcoming 5G auction.
Post a Comment
Read more

Fujitsu eyes 20 potential M&A targets as part of a five-year $5.8B plan aiming to strengthen its digital services and capitalize on US-China trade disputes (Kana Inagaki/Financial Times) https://ift.tt/3htYmnJ

Kana Inagaki / Financial Times : Fujitsu eyes 20 potential M&A targets as part of a five-year $5.8B plan aiming to strengthen its digital services and capitalize on US-China trade disputes   —  Shortlist is part of investment push to hasten group's pivot to digital services  —  Fujitsu has drawn up a shortlist …
Post a Comment
Read more