Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed President Biden for how he handled the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on Monday. During an exclusive interview with the Hill Pompeo accused the administration of having “made an enormous mistake” that brought “global shame” to the U.S.
Pompeo also denied allegations that he or any other member of the Trump administration had been made aware of spy balloons traversing the U.S. airspace during former President Trump’s time in office. However, Pompeo was overly critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the four objects that have been shot down over North America since Feb. 4.
The Chinese surveillance balloon has so far been the only object identified as such. It was the first item to be brought down by the U.S. military off the coast of South Carolina. The large balloon was estimated to be the size of around three buses.
Pompeo, who spoke with the Hill as part of the promotion tour of his memoir “Never Give an Inch” said that he did not know what information the balloon had collected in terms of signals intelligence and imagery. However, what he does know is that everyone in the world saw a giant balloon moving across the U.S. and the administration doing nothing.
This gave China “an enormous geopolitical advantage.” Pompeo also noted that he did not believe that the risk of some fallen debris over Montana could have ever been bigger than “the risk of global shame.”
