GOP Senators Accuse Pentagon Official of Leaking Classified Information on Chinese Spy Balloons

Pentagon official Colin Kahl leaked classified information about Chinese spy balloons to deflect blame on the Biden administration’s mishandling of a similar spy balloon in U.S. airspace last month, according to two Republican senators.

Kahl, whom President Joe Biden appointed as his undersecretary of defense for policy, provided classified information to reporters, revealing that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy balloons may have infiltrated the United States during the Trump administration, Sens. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) wrote in a March 10 letter.

This is the first time Kahl has been identified as the source of these leaks, which seem to have been an attempt to shift blame away from Biden after the administration allowed the Chinese spy balloon to fly across the entire United States before shooting it down off the coast of South Carolina.

The Pentagon official, however, left out the fact that the previous Chinese balloons were discovered much later, and the Trump administration did not have time to reply.

“In addition, soon after the balloon became public knowledge, Dr. Kahl leaked previously classified information to the press about prior Chinese surveillance balloons during the Trump administration,” the senators said in their letter….