The Issue: The Biden administration waiting a week before shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon.
Like many other Americans, I find it appalling that China’s “meteorology” balloon was permitted to mosey clear across our country without interruption (“Pop secret,” Feb. 5).
Would Russian President Vladimir Putin have let that drift for more than a half mile?
There had to be one area in all this land that would have been deemed a safe place to shoot it down.
It seems we are experiencing one laughable moment after another, and I would bet my last yuan that the data collected were being reported back to the Chinese government in real time; they were not waiting for its return trip.
China must be amazed that they were gifted so much information by United States.
Catherine Kropf Harris
Levittown
So far the response of Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz to Biden shooting down a Chinese balloon has been even more foolish than Biden shooting it down.
Biden should not have shot down the balloon. First, it probably really was a weather balloon. If that’s the case, China can call it an unprovoked military attack.
Biden’s military advisers just told him the debris would be unsafe instead. Why didn’t they consider what China’s reactions might be?
Bill Graham
Salinas, Calif.
Now the Navy is recovering the pieces after the balloon traveled across the United States. Better late then never.
The comparison to satellites is not accurate. Satellites travel at about 17,000 mph at an altitude of 200 miles. The balloon is traveling at maybe 8 to 10 mph at an altitude of 60,000 feet.
A balloon being slower and closer allows for closer, longer observation and photo-taking.
Glen Benjamin
Suffern
The Biden administration’s excuse that it didn’t want to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon for fear of debris landing on populated areas is an utterly risible one.
The United State is an enormous country, with many areas of wilderness.
Montana, where the balloon was publicly detected, is the third-least densely populated state in the nation, only behind Wyoming and Alaska.
There were many unpopulated areas where the balloon could have been brought down as it scrutinized the United States, but a fretful Biden hesitated, fearful of causing offense.
He only had a response days after the scandal of his inaction had blown up. It’s lame and transparent.
Robert Frazer
Lancashire, UK
The hand-wringing by Republicans over the “balloon” — such as that by the puerile, insipid Sen. Marco Rubio — is almost amusing.
First of all, we were not justified in shooting it down when it was not over US territory — period.
Second, once it was over the United States, we were concerned, justifiably, about whether the debris resulting from shooting it down would cause harm to our citizens.
And, lastly, where were the Republicans when the same thing reportedly occurred three times under former President Donald Trump? Or was Donald concerned about hurting the feelings of President Xi?
Biden did the right thing in the right way, including postponing Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China.
Lou Maione, Manhattan
Despite his belated protests to the contrary, Biden puts politics above the safety of American citizens (“Clouded judgment,” Feb. 5).
He let a Chinese spy balloon fly over militarily sensitive areas in the continental United States for a week before it was shot down, during which time he refused to answer any questions about it.
The fact that all of this happened shortly before Blinken’s scheduled high-level meeting in China stinks to high heaven.
It smells even worse when you consider First Son Hunter Biden’s shady business dealings in that part of the world.
Biden is no Honest Joe. He’s a schmo, and an extremely dangerous one at that.
Stuart Ellison
Brooklyn
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