MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release
February 7, 2023

CONTACTS:
Hamilton Strategies, [email protected],
Beth Harrison, 610.584.1096, ext. 105,
or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102

Lessons from
Beijing’s Balloon Belligerence

Webinar Considers Response to CCP’s
Full-on Espionage, Wider Unrestricted Warfare

WASHINGTON — On January 28, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a spy balloon into U.S. airspace. It took President Biden until February 1 to order that it be shot down, which finally occurred on February 4 after the balloon’s surveillance mission was complete.

This episode offers two notable insights:

First, while Americans have been transfixed by the spectacle of this brazen act of Chinese espionage, and heartened by its violent termination at the hands of an F-22 pilot, there is little public awareness of the magnitude of the rest of China’s leave-no-stone-unturned spying on this country. For example, the CCP’s comprehensive and relentless efforts to steal American secrets involve, among other techniques: satellites, signals intercepts, cyber warfare and countless human “collectors” in this country, including actual spies but also students, businessmen, scientists and tourists. The cumulative damage being done in terms of the loss of proprietary data, classified and unclassified, alone is some $600 billion per year.

Second, the Biden administration reportedly concealed from the American people the balloon’s penetration of U.S. sovereign airspace in the interest of having Secretary of State Tony Blinken travel to Beijing for meetings meant to promote the idea that the Chinese Communists are partners, not a threat. That trip was a terrible idea even before the CCP perpetrated this affront; it became a non-starter under these circumstances. There is, however, no indication to date that Blinken’s kow-tow has been canceled in favor of the adoption of a policy of peace through strength and a war-footing. Instead, it has simply been postponed, presumably until Team Biden considers it safe to revert to appeasing the CCP.

The next Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) webinar, “Lessons from Beijing’s Balloon Belligerence: The CCP’s Full-on Espionage, Its Wider Unrestricted Warfare and How to Respond,” will examine these and other topics prompted by the spy balloon travesty from 1-2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, February 7.

WHAT: CPDC Webinar | “Lessons from Beijing’s Balloon Belligerence: The CCP’s Full-on Espionage, Its Wider Unrestricted Warfare and How to Respond”

WHEN: 1-2:15 pm ET, Tuesday, February 7, 2023

WHO:

Moderator:

Frank Gaffney, Founder and Executive Chairman, Center for Security Policy; Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China

Panelists:

Richard Fisher, Senior Fellow for Asia, Institute for Assessment and Strategy; author: China’s Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach  

Topic: “China’s ‘Assassin’s Mace’: Surprise as a Key Weapon in the CCP’s Arsenal”

Ambassador Henry Cooper, PhD, Former Air Force officer; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force; former Assistant Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; former U.S. Ambassador to the Defense and Space Talks; former Director, Strategic Defense Organization; Chairman of the Board of Directors, High Frontier

Topic: “The High-Altitude Balloon as a Kill-Mechanism — A Stealthy Platform for EMP, Hypersonic Attacks?”

Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin, U.S. Army (Ret.), former Commanding Officer, Delta Force and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; author, Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom

Topic: “The CCP is at War with America – The Intelligence Domain”

Colonel Robert Maness, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), former Commanding Officer of a bomber squadron; former Vice Commander of America’s largest Airborne Intelligence Wing; former Commander, Kirtland Air Force Base

Topic: “The Balloon Debacle: Operational Insights from a Veteran Combat Aviator”

Trevor Loudon, author and filmmaker, Enemies Within and Enemies Within the Church; freedom-fighter and public speaker

Topic: “The Help Chinese Intelligence Gets from American Elites”

Colonel John Mills, U.S. Army (Ret.), Former Special Operator specializing in Psychological Warfare; former senior executive responsible for Cyber Policy in the Office of Secretary of Defense; author, The Nation Will Follow

Topic: “How to Respond to the CCP’s Whole-of-Society Espionage and Unrestricted Warfare Against America”

HOW: Register at PresentDangerChina.org.

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To interview representatives of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, contact [email protected], Beth Harrison, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102._______
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