White House won't say if Biden is concerned about potential spy flight intel in Beijing's hands

FIRST ON FOX: The White House won’t opportunity if President Biden is concerned if immoderate imaginable intelligence taken by nan Chinese spy balloon’s surveillance instrumentality is successful Beijing’s hands.

Fox News Digital reached retired to nan White House on Monday asking if nan president had immoderate concerns astir imaginable intelligence already being successful nan hands of nan Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

White House lawman property caput Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital that pinch "a successful strike, President Biden sent a forceful connection to China that this was unacceptable while utilizing their maneuver against them truthful that we gained much intelligence."

SPY BALLOON LIKELY SENT EXTENSIVE INTELLIGENCE TO CHINA, EXPERTS SAY

White House lawman property caput Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital that pinch "a successful strike, President Biden sent a forceful connection to China that this was unacceptable while utilizing their maneuver against them truthful that we gained much intelligence." (Screenshot/Twitter)

"Meanwhile, he protected our ain delicate accusation arsenic we tracked their balloon’s way and acted accordingly," Bates said.

"And he accomplished each of this while keeping our civilians safe from immoderate harm," he continued. "That’s what nan American group expect from their commandant successful chief."

Bates, however, wouldn't opportunity whether nan president was concerned astir immoderate intelligence perchance already being successful nan hands of nan CCP.

The White House spokesperson besides pointed to a elder defense official’s remarks from Saturday’s Department of Defense (DOD) briefing astir nan balloon being popped.

The Chinese spy balloon that made its measurement complete nan U.S. past week was changeable down Saturday aft hovering complete respective states, including Montana and South Carolina. (Chase Doak/via Reuters)

"While we activity to execute this scheme to bring down successfully complete U.S. territorial waters, we besides took contiguous steps to protect against nan balloon's postulation of delicate information, mitigating its intelligence worth to nan PRC," nan defense charismatic said.

"Shooting nan balloon down addressed nan surveillance threat posed to subject installations and further neutralized immoderate intelligence worth it could person produced, preventing it from returning to nan PRC," nan charismatic continued. "In addition, shooting nan balloon down could alteration nan U.S. to retrieve delicate PRC equipment."

"I would besides statement that while we took each basal steps to protect against nan PRC surveillance balloon's postulation of delicate information, nan surveillance balloon's overflight of U.S. territory was of intelligence worth to us," they said. "I can't spell into much detail, but we were capable to study and scrutinize nan balloon and its equipment, which has been valuable."

The espionage inflatable was popped aft monolithic nationalist outcry, being blown up disconnected nan seashore of nan Palmetto State. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Chinese spy balloon that made its measurement complete nan U.S. past week was changeable down Saturday aft hovering complete respective states, including Montana and South Carolina.

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The espionage inflatable was popped aft monolithic nationalist outcry, being blown up disconnected nan seashore of nan Palmetto State.

The Chinese spy balloon that traveled crossed nan U.S. apt was capable to nonstop delicate information to nan Chinese Communist Party earlier it was changeable down by nan U.S. subject Saturday, overseas argumentation experts antecedently told Fox News Digital.

Rebekah Koffler, a erstwhile Defense Intelligence Agency serviceman specializing successful overseas aerospace, assessed a "high probability that nan Chinese authorities exfiltrated delicate US data" done its spy balloon.

"This brazen intelligence cognition mounted by Beijing, targeting nan US homeland, almost surely enabled nan Chinese subject to glean captious insights into nan Biden Administration’s argumentation and posture towards China, and President Biden’s ‘red lines,’ erstwhile it comes to overseas aerospace assets, breaching of US sovereign airspace," Koffler told Fox News Digital. "These insights are very useful for China successful processing deterrence strategies for dissuading nan United States from intervening successful China’s early fierce operations against Taiwan."

Fox News Digital’s Patrick Hauf contributed reporting.