Courtney Statement on President Biden’s Decision to Down Chinese Surveillance Balloon

NORWICH, CT – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), the second most senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement after the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that the Chinese surveillance balloon spotted this week in U.S. airspace has been shot down by an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base:

“President Biden’s order to take down the PRC surveillance balloon was executed professionally and surgically by Air Force pilots from Northern Command over U.S. 12-mile territorial waters,” said Congressman Courtney. “The PRC committed a blatant violation of international law with this intrusion into U.S. airspace, and the President’s action was entirely justified. After our sea services conduct a retrieval of the platform, our forensic experts will go to work so the international community gets the full story of this unacceptable provocation.”
 

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