Feb
26
U.S. Intelligence Failures Re China: Not Just Spy Balloons
Sure, we all know about the recent Chinese surveillance balloon that the Biden administration finally shot down after it had collected and relayed information from across our nation. And that there have been other violations of our sovereign airspace. And… well, tempted as I am, I’m not going to delve into that whole mishegoss.
But, there is a larger issue and, in a recent article by James Carafano (vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at The Heritage Foundation), he asks: “What is happening with strategic intelligence under Biden, particularly when it comes to reading China?”
Here are five areas of intelligence blundership (my term) that Carafano takes note of…
COVID-19
We still don’t have a clear understanding on China’s role in what became a worldwide pandemic. But, after years of denial and castigating anyone who dared call the coronavirus associated with it the “Chinese bat virus” or “Wuhan virus”, some U.S. officials are finally admitting that the virus probably leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan province. (And in other news, China is a Communist state.)
How Many Nukes?
U.S. intelligence may not be able to tell us exactly how many nuclear weapons the Chinese have. But, unclassified documents reveal that “China is rapidly expanding its strategic force, so much so that Beijing will match — or even overmatch — Russia’s nuclear arsenal. Ours, too.”
Invasion of Taiwan
Our intel community can’t agree on if, let alone when, a likely Chinese invasion of Taiwan might occur. (Btw, check out this article for recent activity in the South China Sea.)
Invasion of Ukraine
Speaking of invasions, we know that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. How soon did we confirm this, and why aren’t Biden and the Dems treating it like the serious matter that it is? (Otoh, I don’t really trust the Biden regime to handle it wisely.)
Hunter Biden Laptop
The laptop in question was indeed Hunter’s, and he did a lot of business (and probably partying) in China. So…
“[W]here is the intelligence community’s assessment of the national security risks that may have been exposed? Did the community not produce one? If it didn’t, that’s malfeasance. If it did, where is it? You would think that, if it did one and found no issues, it would be on the front page of The Washington Post. If it found some and [is] withholding that information — well, that’s not comforting either.”
Carafano concludes (as do I) with the following:
“When you connect all these dots, it’s not a pretty picture. Either the U.S. intelligence community is not collecting and assessing critical information about the single greatest threat to our security or it is refusing to share its conclusions. Is that because it’s too important to share or there is nothing to share, or it’s politically inconvenient to share?
None of these answers offers much comfort about Joe Biden’s stewardship of the intelligence community.”
