Mike Pompeo blasts Joe Biden for slow spy balloon response

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Biden’s delay in shooting down the Chinese spy balloon that crossed the country earlier this month brought “global shame” on the United States. 

​“The whole world saw a slow-moving balloon transiting Montana, Kansas, South Carolina — and the United States of America did nothing,” ​Pompeo, who is expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, told The Hill in an interview published Tuesday.

The former CIA director and Kansas congressman added that the Biden administration’s dawdling handed China “an enormous geopolitical advantage.”

“I can’t imagine that the risk of some falling debris over a place like Montana exceeded the risk of global shame​,” Pompeo told the outlet.

The spy balloon was first detected entering US airspace near Alaska on Jan. 28 but its presence wasn’t known to the public until the aircraft was spotted hovering over Montana on Feb. 1. 

For the next three days, the balloon sailed over key military installations until two US Air Force F-22 fighter jets downed it off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4. 

Biden has said he gave the order to shoot down the balloon on Feb. 1, but was advised by the military to wait until it reached the Atlantic, where it could be downed safely and the debris recovered. 

But Pompeo said the orb could have been vacuuming sensitive data the entire time it remained airborne.

“I don’t know what it collected … I don’t know what signals intelligence it may have had. I don’t know what imagery it may have been able to garner,” ​he told The Hill. 

Since Feb. 4, the US military has downed three other unknown objects – over Alaska, the Yukon Territory in Canada and Lake Huron. 

Their origins have yet to be determined. 

Pompeo also pushed back on claims that Chinese spy balloons traveled over the United States three times during the Trump administration, chalking them up to attempts at distraction.

“You’re bringing it up too, and this is exactly what the Biden administration wants you talking about: ‘Look over here. See this shiny object. Trump, Trump, Trump.’ Right? This wasn’t remotely the same thing. … As best as I can tell, no one was aware,” he said. “And this is fundamentally different from what has transpired over the past two weeks.”