House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner, R-OH, said in an interview Sunday that he is disappointed by the Biden administration’s handling of the recent invasions of U.S. airspace. Turner joined CNN’s Jake Tapper and suggested that the White House was “permissive” in handling the Chinese balloon and has not been transparent with information surrounding the unidentified objects. Turner also criticized the military response to the objects, calling for investment in more sophisticated radar systems.
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“They do appear somewhat trigger-happy,” Turner said about the Biden administration’s decision to shoot down the unidentified object over Alaska. “Although this is certainly preferable to the permissive environment that they showed when the Chinese spy balloon was coming over some of our most sensitive sites.”
Turner criticized the White House’s sudden shift in tone since the first object, a Chinese spy balloon, was allowed to float across the United States before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina. Officials explained that the massive size of the balloon, its debris field, and its high altitude were all reasons they did not shoot it down; Turner was not buying the story, calling it a “fallacy.”
When asked whether he supported the Biden administration’s decision to shoot down the object over Alaska, Turner said,
“Sure. As I was saying, I would prefer them to be trigger-happy than to be permissive. But we’re going to have to see whether or not this is just the administration trying to change headlines. But what I think this shows, which is probably more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we’re going to defend our airspace.”
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Turner said it has “become clear” that the United States does not have adequate radar systems to guard U.S. airspace. He also called on the United States to invest in an integrated missile system,
“We have helped invest in Israel having an integrated missile defense system. We don’t have one ourselves. This is a turning point where we need to discuss, this is a threat… this administration now needs to declare that it will defend its airspace.”
Jake Tapper asked the House Intel Chair if he expected to receive any more briefings on the objects violating U.S. airspace. Turner responded, frustrated,
“The Biden administration needs to stop briefing Congress through our television sets and actually come and sit down and brief us. What we’re seeing here is a number of announcements by the administration without any real information being given to Congress.”
The congressman said he felt the rush of criticism after the administration’s handling of the Chinese balloon incident may have left a rift between the White House and Congress, saying the administration was “hesitant.” Still, Turner insisted that there be “more engagement between the administration and Congress.”
“But there’s going to be a number of questions to answer here. The big point is that this is time for the United States to take this as a turning point to invest.”
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Since Turner’s Sunday morning interview, U.S. forces have shot down two more unidentified objects over the Yukon region of Canada and Lake Huron. U.S. officials have not offered any explanation as to their country of origin.
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