Pressured by criticism from Republicans and questions from reporters about a sudden series of efforts to shoot down a Chinese surveillance balloon and several other unidentified craft, the Biden White House on Monday blamed the Trump administration for failing to detect similar craft in US airspace between 2017-2021.
A spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC), John Kirby, stated at a press conference on Monday that the Chinese surveillance programme uncovered by the US this month was active during the Trump presidency. His remarks came in response to repeated questions about why the US military was apparently just now shooting down unidentified objects flying in US airspace.
