CPDC Webinar:

Lessons from
Beijing’s Balloon Belligerence:

The CCP’s Full-on Espionage, Its Wider Unrestricted Warfare and How to Respond

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023
1:00-2:15 p.m. ET

On January 28th, the Chinese Communist Party sent a spy balloon into U.S. airspace. It took President Biden until February 1st to order that it be shot down, which finally occurred on February 4th 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 our country. For example, the CCP’s comprehensive and relentless efforts to steal our 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 consider it safe to revert to appeasing the CCP.

The next Committee on the Present Danger: China webinar will examine these and other topics prompted by the Spy Balloon travesty from 1-2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 7 February.

Moderator:

Frank Gaffney, executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy, host of Securing America with Frank Gaffney on Real America’s Voice Network, and vice-chair for the 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, Startegic 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 Pilot”  
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”

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Read More at Committee on the Present Danger: China