Rep. Rosendale calls for town hall in Great Falls about Chinese spy balloon

U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale wants President Joe Biden to host a town hall meeting in Great Falls so people can ask questions about the Chinese spy balloon and recent reports about it from NBC News.

NBC recently reported the Biden administration wanted to keep the balloon a secret from Congress and the public and that it used an American internet service provider to communicate.

“The people of Montana deserve answers to this brazen espionage attempt by the Chinese Communist Party over our skies, which is why I am calling for the Biden administration to hold a town hall in Great Falls so Montanans can get the answers they deserve,” Rosendale, a Republican, said in a statement.

Great Falls is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which maintains intercontinental ballistic missiles.

His office could not be reached Wednesday about whether his request for a town hall has gained traction.

The balloon flew over Montana and its nuclear weapons sites nearly one year ago.

It was caught on camera by a couple of Billings photojournalists before floating across the U.S. and being shot down by the Department of Defense over the South Carolina coast.

The White House has defended Biden’s response as responsible and did so as recently as November in a briefing with National Security Advisory Jake Sullivan in advance of the president’s meeting with China President Xi Jinping.

Defense officials have said the balloon did not transmit information back to China.

However, members of Montana’s congressional delegation have criticized the Biden administration for the way it has handled the balloon and urged it to take threats from China seriously.

In April, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat and chairperson of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, held the first public hearing on the spy balloon and quizzed Biden administration officials on whether they could prevent future incursions of U.S. airspace given funding priorities.

“Senator Tester’s top priority is keeping Montana and our nation safe, full stop,” a spokesperson from his office said this week. “It’s why he is leading bipartisan efforts to ban foreign adversaries like China from buying up American farmland including property near sensitive military sites like Malmstrom Air Force Base, and it’s why he has led the investigation into the Chinese spy balloon to make sure a similar incursion cannot happen again.

“The Senator takes espionage efforts from the Chinese government seriously, and he will continue to work with Republicans and Democrats to make sure our adversaries cannot undermine our national security.”

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican, has called on the FBI to report to Congress about the spy balloon’s use of U.S. technology. Daines recently said it was “unacceptable” the Biden administration had tried to keep the balloon a secret.

Daines also responded to news the balloon used an American ISP.

“This is outrageous,” Daines said in a statement.“First the Biden Administration let the Chinese spy balloon float over America unabated hoping the American people wouldn’t notice and now we find out it used American communications infrastructure as a basis for its operational capabilities. The Chinese Communist Party must love the Biden administration’s feckless approach to foreign policy.”

The FBI earlier told the Daily Montanan it received Daines’ request for a briefing but did not comment on whether it planned to hold one.

In a White House briefing in September with National Security Advisory Sullivan, a reporter asked the reason Biden was standing up to Russia but largely giving China (and India) a pass “for their aggressions as well as the economic support they’re giving to Russia.”

The reporter cited spy balloons as one example of aggression, according to a transcript of the briefing.

In response, Sullivan said the U.S. has a strategy to be sure American technology cannot be used against the country: “President Biden, in fact, is the first person to take some of those steps. No previous administration has done so.”

He said China comes with its own set of challenges, but he defended the administration: “The North Star of this administration is: If you represent a threat to the American people’s security, prosperity, or basic sense of fairness, we will take action to defend that.”

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican, has not released recent public statements about the spy balloon on his website, and a spokesperson was not available Wednesday for comment.

However, Zinke has aired concerns about China’s involvement in a Montana university.

Last month, Zinke and Rosendale sent University of Montana President Seth Bodnar a letter about a summer 2024 law school study trip to China that is hosted and funded by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, which they said is “not a benign entity.”

UM noted Wednesday no students are signed up to participate.

“As underscored by the work of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), which one of us chairs, we are increasingly concerned by CCP-affiliated entities’ malign influence campaigns and exploitation of academia,” said the letter, also signed by Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican. “Neither Montana students nor your university should be unwitting partners in efforts that advance CCP objectives to the detriment of America’s national security.”

In a statement from UM, President Seth Bodnar said the program is in compliance with state and federal law.

“As a former special forces officer, I understand firsthand the threats to freedom posed by foreign adversaries,” Bodnar said. “ … Rather than shrink opportunity, it is our responsibility to expand learning experiences for our students so that America can compete and win around the globe.”

UM also said it has been repeatedly named the No. 1 university in America for community and national service for efforts to expand service opportunities for students, and the university will continue to advocate for Montanans to study abroad to strengthen democracy.

The letter, however, said other institutions of higher education, such as the University of Texas at Austin, have rejected CUSEF money, and it urged “heightened vigilance.”

“In the interest of protecting students and the integrity of UMT’s programs, we urge you to terminate any ties with CUSEF and commit to a rigorous vetting process for foreign partnerships going forward,” the letter said.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Rep. Matt Rosendale requests Joe Biden to visit Great Falls