Acknowledging at least five previous Chinese balloon flights over the United States, the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command stated the incursions spotlighted a recently-released hole in US national security, the Washington Post writes.
"As NORAD commander, it's my responsibility to detect threats to North America," Air Force General Glen D. VanHerck said at a Monday media briefing. "I will tell you that we did not detect those threats. And that's a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out."
VanHerck said that elements in the US intelligence community informed him of the previous overflights "after the fact;" previous reporting said the Biden Administration had pushed for greater vigilance regarding Chinese activities, pushing for a review of previous intelligence which uncovered the balloon flights that occurred during the previous administration. Members of Biden's administration have reached out to befuddled and ignorant members of the Trump cabal to offer them briefings on the matter, presumably only if their security clearances are in order.