Rep. Michael McCall (R-Texas) said a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month flew over a number of highly sensitive U.S. intelligence and military installations. After the flight, he said, “I did a lot of damage.”
McCall, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, split with defense and intelligence officials who said the United States had mitigated the amount of information that could have been picked up by the Chinese balloon. McCall said the balloon’s flight path over nuclear sites and military infrastructure clarified the type of information China was seeking.
“It did a lot of damage,” McCall said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. will cause great damage.”
McCall’s assessment of the effectiveness of the alleged Chinese spy balloon came as the United States recently shot down more unidentified objects in U.S. and Canadian airspace. It is unknown if these objects were balloons or what their origin was.
“Balloons can see more on the ground than satellites can,” McCall said Sunday.
McCall also said he would work in Congress to ban China from selling technology that it could use in its most advanced weapons and surveillance systems. Republicans have been critical of the Biden administration in the aftermath of the ballooning incident, accusing the president of not being tough enough against one of the United States’ greatest global adversaries.
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