U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck recently revealed a major gap in U.S. defenses – since 2019, multiple Chinese airships, including surveillance balloons, have incursioned into the U.S. with no detection. This startling admission has raised questions on just how they managed to fly under the radar.

The United States Air Force Assessment from February 2nd indicates that China launched the spy balloon in question and has operated multiple High Altitude Balloons (HABs) for months at a time as well. It was only when the Biden Administration proposed increased vigilance of overseas surveillance was the balloon detected.

According to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, “the intelligence community made this a priority at the direction of the President,” and “we enhanced our surveillance of our territorial airspace, enhanced our capacity to be able to detect