On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense Chairman Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said that while he accepts the decision to wait to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon as “the right decision for them to make at the time” there has to be a plan to handle the next balloon so “it’s either disabled so it can’t collect anything or you take it out of the sky.”
Tester stated that the military “had good reason for what they did. They explained it to us in a classified session and in an open session in the hearing that I held. And I accept that decision as a decision that was the right decision for them to make at the time. I will tell you what concerns me, though, I chair the defense appropriations…we need to get together to find out what the plan is and make sure the budget meets the needs to make sure this never happens again.”
Host Jake Tapper then asked, “And so, next time they send one over — because apparently…I guess there were three during the Trump administration and two [under] Biden — the next time it happens, there needs to be a plan to take it down as soon as possible?”
Tester responded, “I believe so, yes. I think there needs to be a plan to deal with it in such a way [where] it’s either disabled so it can’t collect anything or you take it out of the sky.”
He later added that China is “not going to stop” sending balloons into American airspace.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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