And according to a new report based on statements from a former senior US military official, if the Pentagon and the White House had their way, you never would have known about it. They even planned to keep the news secret from members of Congress.
Initially, the military apparently didn’t even want to tell Biden. (Can you blame them?) They knew about it for four days before Joe Biden was informed. The closest they came to bringing him into the loop before that was a tip given to the President’s military adviser, General Mark Milley. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was reportedly “too focused” on an upcoming trip to Asia to be bothered. None of them planned to inform Congress about this, including the Gang of Eight, who are supposed to be in the loop on all major matters of interest and security.
Even putting aside the efforts at unwarranted secrecy, this was simply an idiotic plan to begin with. There was something the size of three school buses floating across the country at a leisurely pace. Did they honestly think that nobody was going to notice? While it’s understandable that it might have been missed while flying over thinly populated regions of Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, the prevailing winds were clearly going to take it over larger population centers in the lower 48 states. Even with the distracted nature of our current populace, somebody was going to look up and ask what the heck that thing was sooner or later.
