"Face the Nation" on Feb. 12, 2023
Interview
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Good morning.
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Well, I think the investigation is still going on as we speak.
The truth is, is that there was an anomaly, and they've investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn't fully check it out. I'm sure, as we speak, it's being checked out right now.
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Absolutely. There may still be something out there. It may be a false alarm.
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Well, I think that's a very, very good question, and that's a better question for General Milley.
But the truth of the matter is, is that they need to have a policy. They being the military needs to have a policy to recommend to the president. It's something that, as -- as chairman of the Defense Committee and Ranking Member Collins, we've already talked about this. We're going to make sure that there is a plan. We're going to make sure, if that plan needs to be funded, that it gets funded.
This is -- what's gone on the last two weeks or so, 10 days, has been nothing short of craziness. And the military needs to have a plan to not only determine what's out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.
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My guess is, it'll get shot down.
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But the military will make an assessment as to potential collateral damage, just like they did on the Chinese spy balloon.
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I have.
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Well, I think you've got what he shared with me at that moment in time, and that they had done an assessment of it and determined that it was unmanned and determined that it should be shot down because they weren't absolutely positive that it was of no threat.
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Yes.
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Well, look, I don't think things happen by mistake when it comes to China.
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I don't know. I don't know that it's China. We will find out later on if, in fact, it was affiliated with the Chinese Communist government or not.
But -- but the bottom line is, is that I think we need to take these things seriously. I think the president and I think, more importantly, the military are taking it very, very seriously. And -- and, to back that up, I think through the appropriations process in the Defense Committee, we're going to make sure that they're taking it seriously.
So, the checks and balances will be there as we move forward. But this is - - like I said, this has been a phenomenon that we haven't had recently, where we've had other countries that have went into our airspace for the purpose of trying to gather information on what we're doing here in the United States.
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Yes.
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Well, I mean, that's a better question for the military. From my perspective...
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They weren't sharing it with me.
And so I can't say what their awareness was over the last 10 years. But -- but, obviously, there was some awareness. But whether it was up to where it needed to be, that's -- that's a debate that Congress needs to have and questions that need to be answered by our -- our military leadership.
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Yes.
Well, so, initially, I was very much for shooting it down when it was over the Aleutians. I think what transpired was is, is that the military took assessments as to potential collateral damage and the threat of this balloon. And, you know, we pay these folks good money to make sure we keep our nation safe.
And I respect their view, and the president followed that. Going on in the future, I think there needs to be a plan that's right up front, so we know exactly what's going to happen when these balloons come in and their threat is assessed, what's going to happen.
But -- but, look, we -- I got briefed both in open session and a classified session. And, quite honestly, the military and intelligence community's explanation of what transpired with that balloon, I accept.
Is it something that I would have done right out -- right out of the chute? No. I would have probably done it different, but that's not saying that I'm right or I'm wrong or they're right or they're wrong.
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In the end, we ended up with a balloon that they've recovered, and they're going to take and put it back together and reverse- engineer it, and we'll find out what they're up to, plus the information that was gathered while it came across the United States.
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Yes.
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No doubt about that.
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No doubt about that, and there better not have been damage done, or it makes my case for shooting the doggone thing down over the Aleutian Islands.
Look, we've got ICBMs in Montana. We have got 150 of them. Malmstrom Air Force Base is an incredible deterrent for this country and has been since the early '60s. They -- the military made an assessment that they wouldn't be able to gather the information that -- that the military thought was important to China.
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And, if that didn't happen that way, somebody screwed up.
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Yes.
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Well, look, I'm a farmer. I have been farming my grandparents' land at the homestead.
And I think it's really important for food security. The folks -- this is a ban against China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, folks who don't want to see us exist anymore as a nation. I don't think they should have any opportunity to try to dictate our food supply or...
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Right, period, done, because they're all connected with the Communist Chinese government anyway.
And so I think it's a reasonable step to take. Senator Rounds out of South Dakota does too. So it's bipartisan. And I think we should do it as a matter of course. And I'm all about private property rights. I think people ought to be able to sell who they want to sell to, but not in this particular case, because China wants to do bad things to us.
Same thing with North Korea, Russia and Iran. So, let's -- let's take that off the table, both in farmland and in agribusinesses.
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I think -- I think it'd be a mistake, a -- really a mistake for national security and for food security.
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You bet. Thank you.
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