Chinese surveillance balloon: Pentagon to brief US Senate on Feb. 15, Schumer says

The Pentagon will springiness nan afloat Senate a briefing connected nan Chinese surveillance balloon that was changeable down disconnected nan seashore of South Carolina connected Saturday aft traversing nan continental United States, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said connected Sunday. 

The Gang of Eight, which consists of 8 Republican and Democrat leaders from some chambers of congress, will beryllium briefed arsenic soon arsenic Tuesday. 

The Department of Defense's Office of Net Assessment will behaviour nan briefing for nan afloat Senate connected Feb. 15. 

"The briefing involves wherever we guidelines pinch respect to China connected everything from surveillance capabilities to investigation and development, to precocious weapons systems and different captious platforms," Sen. Schumer said astatine a property convention connected Sunday. 

"It will find which side, China aliases nan United States, has nan precocious manus successful toe-to-toe conflicts, some economical and geo-military."

A pitchy flies by a Chinese spy balloon arsenic it floats disconnected nan seashore successful Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023.  (REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo)

An F-22 combatant pitchy fired a rocket astatine nan balloon erstwhile it was respective nautical miles off nan Carolina coast connected Saturday afternoon. It had first entered U.S. airspace northbound of Alaska's Aleutian Islands connected Jan. 28 and was spotted connected Wednesday supra Montana, which has fields of atomic rocket silos astatine Malmstrom Air Force Base. 

RUBIO SAYS BIDEN WAITING TO AMERICAN PUBLIC ABOUT CHINESE BALLOON A ‘DERELICTION OF DUTY’

Republicans person pilloried President Biden for waiting respective days until nan balloon was complete nan water to sprout it down. 

"I deliberation much damaging than immoderate surveillance is assessing our response," Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo connected "Sunday Morning Futures." 

"Since we've entered into a atomic age, location are responses that person to hap successful seconds to minutes, and nan truth that this management would dither for days complete a balloon I deliberation gives region to america astir really good we're protected and whether aliases not they person nan expertise to make decisions that would person to beryllium made successful seconds aliases minutes."

The Chinese spy balloon drifts to nan water aft being changeable down disconnected nan seashore successful Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023.    (REUTERS/Randall Hill)

Schumer deed backmost astatine that disapproval connected Sunday, accusing Republicans of "playing authorities pinch U.S. intelligence."

"We sent a clear connection to China that this is not acceptable. We protected civilians. We gained much intelligence while protecting our ain delicate information," Schumer said. "The bottommost statement present is that shooting down this surveillance balloon complete h2o wasn't conscionable nan safest option, but it was nan 1 that maximized our intelligence payload."

MILITARY EXPERTS PROVIDE FRANK ASSESSMENT OF US SHORTCOMINGS IN POTENTIAL CHINA CONFLICT

President Biden said that he wanted to sprout nan balloon down connected Wednesday, but intelligence officials wanted to hold until it was safe to do so. 

This whitethorn not person been nan first clip that China attempted to spy connected nan U.S. pinch a balloon. A elder management charismatic told Fox News Digital connected Sunday that U.S. intelligence assesses that Chinese surveillance balloons "transited nan continental U.S. concisely astatine slightest 3 times during nan anterior management and erstwhile that we cognize of astatine nan opening of this administration, but ne'er for this long of time."

A Chinese surveillance balloon floats complete Billings, Mont., connected Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023.  (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

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Former President Trump and nationalist information officials from his administration, meanwhile, denied that immoderate balloons were detected complete nan U.S. while he was successful office. 

"This ne'er happened. It would person ne'er happened," Trump told Fox News Digital connected Sunday.

"It ne'er happened pinch america nether nan Trump management and if it did, we would person changeable it down immediately." 

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.