Senator Murkowski raises concerns over handling of Chinese surveillance balloon

As multiple agencies work to gather debris and data left from the Chinese surveillance balloon and U2 spy planes that circled the balloon that crossed the United States before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina this week, inquiries began on Thursday, seeking to find out what exactly the Chinese government could gather from this balloon, and why it had not been taken down earlier this week.

According to U.S. officials, there were multiple antennas that could have been capable of gathering intelligence, which could let China gather information from phone calls, radio frequencies, emails, and even text messages.

Search teams from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have not yet found the payload, which is probably at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and may provide critical and sensitive information that the Chinese may have obtained.

Thursday, Senator Lisa Murkowski gave an opening statement at a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, raising concerns over the handling of a Chinese surveillance balloon entering U.S. airspace, specifically near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

“As an Alaskan, I am so angry. I want to use other words, but I’m not going to,” said Senator Murkowski.

“The fact of the matter is, Alaska is the first line of defense for America. If you’re going to have Russia coming at you, if you’re going to have China coming at you, we know exactly how they come-they come up and over Alaska.”

Senator Murkowski went on to say thanks to the Pentagon and the Department of Defense for recognizing the geographical location of Alaska as a means of defense for the rest of the country.

“Thank goodness that we have invested the resources to make sure that we have the eyes on the skies and every place else,” she said, referring to the multiple resources in Alaska, including the Cobra Peninsula in the Aleutian Islands or Clear Space Force Station in Anderson.

The senator went on to call out the administration for not utilizing Alaska in taking down the surveillance balloon when it was first discovered over the Aleutian Islands

“It’s like this administration doesn’t think that Alaska is any part of the rest of the country,” she said, adding, “when we saw it first, as we did, as we all knew, that this balloon was not a weather station collecting weather information. We knew that.”

Senator Murkowski also took to task the notion that when the U.S. finally shot down the balloon, a clear message was sent to China

“It seems to me the clear message to China is ‘we got free range in Alaska because they’re going to let us cruise over that until it gets to more sensitive areas.’ Tell me where the sensitive areas are. Alaskans have stepped up willingly, and support our military, but when we’re talking about the sovereign waters and the sovereign territories of this country, Alaska is part of that.”

Last Saturday, Senator Murkowski released a statement on the Chinese surveillance balloon on social media: “Taking this Chinese surveillance balloon down was the right call and I commend all who played a role in the successful execution of that mission. I look forward to being fully briefed on the incident, but find it unacceptable that the balloon crossed into U.S. airspace over Alaska en route to the Lower 48. This is only the latest example of why I have been so focused on building and sustaining the capabilities of our Arctic Warriors. Strong footing in America’s Arctic is key to deterring all forms of Chinese aggression. As a senior defense appropriator, I will continue to push to get Alaska NORAD all the tools it needs to protect our sovereignty.”

For the senators on the subcommittee, there will be more classified information briefed to them, information that Senator Murkowski said was very thorough, and she believes the information should be shared with the citizens.

“I think that the American public deserve more than they have seen in terms of transparency about why this spy balloon was allowed to spend 2 days over our waters and over the state of Alaska, the state that is the guardian for everybody else.”

According to the information Senator Murkowski presented, at the time that the balloon was seen nearing Alaska, there was no threat to Alaskan citizens or assets, and that the risk assessment arose only when the balloon traveled across the lower 48.

I think people in this country deserve to know why the state that is the first line of defense was not able to keep the rest of the country from being more vulnerable when it came to collection of intelligence as it flew over important installations.”

Meanwhile, China is still not communicating with U.S. officials, but maintains it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research and sharply criticized the U.S. for shooting it down.