Former defense secretary says US should capture or ‘shoot down’ Chinese spy balloon: ‘We have to push back'

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Former defense secretary says US should capture or ‘shoot down’ Chinese spy balloon: ‘We have to push back'

Former U.S. secretary of defense under Trump, Mark Esper, told CNN that the U.S. government should capture the Chinese spy balloon recently spotted floating over Montana or "shoot it down."

Former U.S. secretary of defense under Trump, Mark Esper, told CNN that the U.S. government should either capture the Chinese spy balloon recently spotted floating over Montana or "shoot it down."

The former Defense Department chief claimed that the balloon entering U.S. airspace was a "brazen" act by the Chinese communist government and that it should be met with "resolve."

"You’ve gotta match the Chinese head-to-head," Esper claimed on Friday's "CNN This Morning," advocating a strong American response. 

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Former U.S. defense secretary Mark Esper tells CNN's Kaitlin Collins that the U.S. should capture or "shoot down" the Chines spy balloon.  (Screenshot/CNN)

Anchor Kaitlin Collins prompted the former defense secretary, asking him whether or not the Biden administration should have shot it down by now. She asked, "when the White House makes the decision not to shoot it down, do you agree with that decision? What kind of options do they have here?"

Esper responded first by describing the significance of China’s aggressive move. He stated, "Well, first of all, I am surprised by this. I think it is a brazen act by the Chinese to do this. We were just talking about whether or not it has more or less intelligence value than what they currently have. I don’t think we know."

Getting to her question, Esper stated his first choice would be to capture the balloon to see what it has been doing and what it’s capable of. He said, "And so my interest would be not necessarily shooting it down but bringing it down so we can capture the equipment and understand exactly what they are doing. Are they taking pictures? Are they intercepting signals? What are they doing and what is the level of technical capability?"

He then declared: "Failing that, I would definitely shoot it down provided there is no risk to people on the ground."

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Map shows approximate path of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over Montana, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. (Fox News)

Collins asked Esper whether he was "surprised" that the balloon was hovering over the "continental United States," to which he said, "Absolutely. Not just the continental United States, but our missile fields and our strategic bomber bases. So that’s great concern that they are collecting intelligence. And they, obviously, are looking for something, they need information that I would assume they can’t get through satellites."

He advocated for securing the object and finding out "exactly what they are looking for and why." 

Esper again commented on the "brazen" nature of this suspected reconnaissance, saying, "To me this is a brazen act. So at the political level we have to push back. We have to defend American sovereignty and we have to make clear to the Chinese that we are not going to tolerate this."

A balloon flies in the sky over Billings, Montana, U.S. February 1, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media.  (Retuers)

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After being asked whether he thinks the balloon was observing an "intercontinental ballistic missile base" in Montana, Esper remarked, "That would be my guess," but noted he isn’t privy to that information now. He recommended that lawmakers start asking these questions.

Esper stated, "There’s always more to this than you know that meets the eye. I wouldn’t be privy to that now, so I give the Pentagon some room here. But those are the big questions that I think people should ask – members of Congress should be asking as they dig into this further."