President Biden has sought broad assessment of China’s intelligence capabilities: White House

Washington, February 14 (PTI) President Joe Biden has directed the US Intelligence community to do a “broad assessment” of China’s intelligence capabilities after assuming office, the White House said following the detection of a spy balloon and high-altitude flying objects over American airspace.

In recent days, there have been three incidences of balloon sightings in the US. A US F-22 fighter jet on Saturday shot down an unidentified cylindrical object over Canada, a day after another similar object was downed near Alaskan waters, and a week after the American military brought down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast.

“When President Biden came into office (in 2021), he directed the US Intelligence community to do a broad assessment of Chinese intelligence capabilities and assure — and to ensure that we were working to detect and to protect against them,” John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters on Monday at a news conference.