The shocking truth about a Chinese spy balloon that entered the US last year has finally been revealed.
Panic swept the nation when officials floated a huge, white balloon over the Canadian border in February 2023.
While the Chinese government insisted it was a civilian meteorological device that had been blown off course, it drifted near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, home to some of America's intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMS).
The mysterious trajectory led officials to order it shot down, sending an Air Force F-22 Raptor across the Atlantic Ocean to finish the job.
Glen Vanherck, a retired Air Force general who led the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told the National Post that officials only contacted him when the balloon was almost over Alaska — two weeks before it crossed the lower 48.
He immediately scrambled two Raptor Stealth Fighters and two armed F-16s to deal with the balloon, but since it posed no physical threat, the Jets had to stand down until President Joe Biden gave the Greenlight.
Now, more than a year later, Vanherck said he should have been warned about the spy balloon in advance. Reports have since suggested that US intelligence has been aware of the balloon from the moment it was launched from Hainan Island in China.
'It's a failure of multiple intelligence, Department of Defense agencies. I shouldn't be surprised by something that comes into my area of responsibility… Anyone who knows about it should pass that on. It should not be less than 24 hours. '
The Chinese government insisted that the device was a civilian meteorological device that had been blown off course
News broke about two days before the shooting that a Chinese spy balloon, the size of three buses, was spotted flying over Montana for the day.
Biden was informed two days before the shooting and after it was seen and reported by civilians on a commercial plane.
The president suggested that the balloon should be shot down at high altitude, but the Pentagon opposed the move, fearing civilian casualties if the giant balloon explodes in midair.
“The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon now over the continental United States,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gene. Pat Ryder told NBC News.
“We'll continue to monitor it and monitor it closely.”
The Chinese government insisted that the device was a civilian meteorological device that had been blown off course, but after the balloon changed course and passed over sensitive nuclear sites, it was shot down with a Sidewinder missile fired from an Air Force F-22 Raptor over the Raptor Atlantic Ocean.
“The balloon was eye-opening,” said Glen Vanherck, a now-retired U.S. Air Force general who commanded Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command) during the balloon's incursion into U.S. airspace.
Vanherck told the National Post that the balloon highlighted how attacks could arrive without warning: “We're not going to see long-range cruise missiles.” We're not going to see balloons on the horizon.
Glen Vanherck, a United States Air Force general who commanded Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command)
The balloon was eventually shot down by an American F-22 aircraft
“Today, with missiles being fired, submarines, missiles being fired from airplanes, missiles being fired from land, far beyond the curvature of the earth, your time to respond to those kinds of things is limited.”
Vanherck said that although Norad had been warned about similar balloons by US intelligence sources the previous year, he “immediately knew it would be a huge deal” because he was notified of the craft's arrival.
Alarms were raised in Norad after the balloon changed course, heading south on a trajectory that would take it over Idaho, which borders Montana, where a military base and nuclear missile silos are located.
Military officials hatched a plan to shoot down the balloon, but waited until it was over water to minimize risks to U.S. citizens and infrastructure.
Colorado-based Norad dates back to the Cold War and has a mission to address air and space-based threats, including nuclear missile attacks—and has held back from shooting down the missile over fears that debris could fall within a seven-mile radius. miles would fall.
Vanherck, a former fighter and bomber pilot, had been preparing for the arrival of a Chinese spy balloon and investigating whether balloons that can float up to 80,000 feet were still within U.S. jurisdiction (his legal advisors told him that U.S. sovereignty extends all the way to room).
He said: 'I told my team that it was only a matter of time before one of these approaches North America.'
Vanherck says the intelligence community only made contact on January 27, 2023, when the balloon was almost over the Alaska Aleutian Islands.
US pilots quickly captured images of the balloon as it soared over US airspace
By January 28, Norad discovered it over St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea.
Norad's commander immediately scrambled two Raptor Stealth Fighters and two armed F-16s to tackle the balloon.
The jets had to fly at more than 400 miles per hour to stay aloft in the thin air 10,000 feet up, meaning they had to loop back repeatedly to scan the slow-moving balloon.
The inspection made clear that it was not a physical threat and was not capable of dropping bombs or launching missiles.
That meant that Norad's commander could not order a shooting himself, but had to wait for President Joe Biden to give the order.
Reports have since suggested that US intelligence has been aware of the balloon from the moment it was launched from Hainan Island in China.
Vanherck believes that Norad should have been warned about the balloon earlier.
He told the National Post, “To me, that's a failure of the entire system — to not have the ability to let everyone know that this thing is out there and potentially floating into North American airspace.
'It's a failure of multiple intelligence, Department of Defense agencies. I shouldn't be surprised by something that comes into my area of responsibility… Anyone who knows about it should pass that on. It should not be less than 24 hours. '
The suspected Chinese spy balloon floats towards the ocean after being shot down offshore in Surfside Beach, South Carolina
The US government declined to say which sites the Chinese balloon explored before it was shot down.
It appeared to travel near sensitive US bases, including Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, which oversees 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos, and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, home to the US Strategic Command, which is in charge of nuclear forces .
It also appeared to drift over Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, which operates the Air Force's B-2 bomber.
Vanherck says he did not have the authority to act alone and said an initial assessment by NASA suggested the debris field could be up to 100 miles wide.
He believes the decision to wait meant the US could gather intelligence on the balloon.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton later said, “I think it was a bad mistake to float a Chinese spy balloon all over America and only to have it leaked to the New York Times as soon as some rancher or amateur photographer in Montana saw it.” I suspect if they hadn't…this would never have become public. '
Vanherck says the FBI's subsequent analysis of balloon debris showed the balloon never collected intelligence or transferred anything to China.
He said, “In the end, the best thing happened for the Canadian and American people. Number one, they (China) have not collected (intelligence), we know that for a fact. Number two, we maximized our collection and we exposed the PRC (People's Republic of China) and what they do. And number three, and most importantly, the Canadian and American people were safe. '
