Wicker: Chinese spy balloon questions remain unanswered and that’s unacceptable

A series of questions about the Biden administration’s response to the Chinese surveillance balloon and subsequent shoot down of three unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) remain unanswered and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) wants transparency from the Pentagon.

In a recent letter sent to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Sen. Wicker, ranking member on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, joined U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in demanding answers to several outstanding questions they posed in a Feb. 8 letter about the situation after failing to receive adequate responses.

The senators last month received a letter from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, who wrote that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) had answered the senators’ questions in two separate February briefings held on Capitol Hill.

“This response, which we interpret as reflective of your position, is unacceptable,” they wrote Secretary Lloyd. “We attended both briefings and can say with utmost certainty that Dr. Kahl’s contention is wrong: many of our oversight questions about the administration’s immediate response to the Chinese surveillance balloon remain unanswered.”

In particular, Sen. Wicker and his colleague want documentation demonstrating when senior officials learned about the balloon and at what point Lloyd and President Joe Biden received response options, according to their letter. 

“The simple point of the [previous] letter was to establish baseline facts to inform all members of Congress,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Sen. Wicker and Sen. Rubio also condemned Kahl’s role in spreading misleading information to the press and they want him held accountable for such actions. 

Additionally, they are “equally disappointed” with DOD’s lack of transparency regarding the shoot down of three UAP over Alaska, Northern Canada, and Lake Huron, and noted that their committees thus far “have seen zero data and reviewed few details about the UAP shoot downs.” 

“It is imperative for Congress to understand why this Chinese surveillance balloon was not stopped sooner so we can help the Department of Defense and the intelligence community better protect our airspace,” they wrote.