The
briefing will include TS-SCI information, according to a message obtained by
The Epoch Times
By Nathan Worcester
February 8, 2023Updated: February 8, 2023
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 are seen working to recover the balloon near South Carolina's coast on Feb. 5, 2023. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson)
Multiple Congressional
staffers have confirmed to The Epoch Times that Congressional representatives
will be briefed on the morning of Feb. 9 regarding the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States
last week.
The meeting comes after
days of debate between Republicans and Democrats about how the Biden
administration addressed the craft and the threat from communist China, more
generally.
House Speaker Kevin
McCarthy (R-Calif.) has pressed for just an all-of-Congress meeting, as
confirmed by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Feb. 7.
A message attributed to
the GOP conference claims the meeting will take place at 8 a.m. on Thursday,
and that it will be bipartisan and members-only. It will be a top
secret-sensitive compartmented information (TS-SCI) meeting, according to that
same message.
TS-SCI information is
highly classified. It contains details on intelligence sources and methods.
The message did not
clarify whether the meeting will only include members of the House or will also
include members of the Senate.
According to the message,
at least five U.S. officials will help brief Congress tomorrow.
Morgan Muir of the Office
of the Director of National Intelligence is among them.
In addition, the briefers
will include three officials from the Defense Department.
These officials
are Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy; Lt. Gen. Douglas A.
Sims, director of operations at the J3 level for Joint Staff; and Joint Staff
Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the United States Northern Command
(USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
The suspected Chinese spy
balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside
Beach, S.C., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Randall Hill/Reuters)
Finally, Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Dan Kritenbrink will also
participate in the morning briefing.
The Biden administration
has defended its decision to take down the balloon on Saturday after it had
floated over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, parts of Canada, and much of the United
States for a week, saying the delay was to avoid possible harm to civilians if
the device was shot down over land.
U.S. officials said the
military took unspecified mitigation measures to thwart the balloon’s data
collection, and that the United States was able to use the opportunity of the
balloon’s week-long flight to conduct counterintelligence.
“We acted responsibly and
prudently to protect our interests,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in
a Feb. 8 press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Blinken said the
surveillance balloon was part of a broader global Chinese campaign that has
violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents.
He added the Biden
administration is currently working to recover parts of the fallen balloon,
adding that the administration would “share relevant findings with Congress, as
well as with our allies and partners around the world.”
Secretary of State Antony
Blinken speaks at the State Department in Washington on Jan. 4, 2023. (Sarah
Silbiger/Reuters)
Earlier on Feb. 8,
Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed that new intelligence had
allowed the United States to determine at least four previous spy balloon
incidents in the United States, three of which occurred during the Trump
administration and one during the Biden administration.
In all four incidents,
Ryder said, Chinese surveillance balloons had entered the airspace of the
continental United States in an apparent effort to spy on “strategic sites.”
A staffer for Rep. Mike
Turner (R-Ohio), the House Intelligence Committee’s current chair, confirmed
earlier this week that an intelligence-focused “Gang of Eight” in the House and
Senate would be briefed on the balloon.
The Epoch Times has
reached out to multiple Congressional staffers for additional details.
Andrew Thornebrooke and Eva Fu contributed to this report.
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