House Intel Chairman Mike Turner: The U.S. Has Holes In Homeland Defense Infrastructure That Need Fixing

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner, R-OH, stated Sunday in an interview that there are holes in the U.S. homeland defense infrastructure due to recent foreign object incursions into U.S. airspace.

Turner told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” He believes that President Joe Biden has changed “trigger-happy” After being heavily criticized for allowing a Chinese spy ball to cross the country, before it was shot down,

“I would prefer them to be trigger-happy than to be permissive. But we’re going to have to see whether or not this is just the administration trying to change headlines,” He stated. “But what I think this shows, which is probably more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we’re going to defend our airspace.”

“And then we need to invest. What’s become clear in the public discussion is that we don’t really have adequate radar systems,” He continued. “We certainly don’t have an integrated missile defense system. We’re going to have to begin to look at the United States’ airspace as one that we need to defend and that we need to have appropriate sensors to do so.”

Turner stated that the recent incidents have exposed Turner “problems and gaps that we have” This must be corrected “as soon as possible, because we certainly now ascertain there is a threat.”

CNN HOST, JAKETAPER: Chairman Turner, we are so grateful that you joined us.

We need your help. What were the second, third and fourth objects that the military brought down and from where did they come?

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Yes, well, I certainly don’t know, as the administration is saying they don’t know.

While they are a little trigger-happy, it is better than the permissive atmosphere that they displayed when the Chinese spy satellite was passing over our most sensitive locations.

One thing I find most concerning about this is the fallacy of the Biden administration’s argument that the Chinese balloon’s height caused them no concern. Because we all know that anything that goes up can also go down.

And just saying that this Chinese spy balloon was high and these are lower, and, therefore, they actually pose a hazard really isn’t a…

TAPPER: Are you…

TURNER: … anybody is comfortable with.

TAPPER: Are you glad that they were — that they shot down these two objects? Because, obviously, you and other Republicans were critical for the Biden — that the Biden team took as long as they did to shoot down the object that was clearly a Chinese spy balloon?

TURNER: Sure. As I said, I prefer them to be trigger-happy than permissive. But we’re going to have to see whether or not this is just the Administration trying to make headlines. But what I think this shows, which is probably more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we’re going to defend our airspace.

Then we have to invest. What’s become clear in the public discussion is that we don’t really have adequate radar systems. We certainly don’t have an integrated missile defense system. We’re going to have to begin to look at the United States’ airspace as one that we need to defend and that we need to have appropriate sensors to do so.

These are just a few of the gaps and problems we face. We must fill them as soon as possible because we know that there is a risk.

TAPPER: Do the second and third objects that were shot down on Friday and Saturday spy on America and Canada respectively? Is it possible they were just weather balloons or something else that was — that’s benign?

TURNER

When the Department of Defense gave in its first statement on this, if you notice, there was a word slipped in there that you certainly didn’t hear when the Chinese spy balloon was over the United States. And that’s the word corporate of origin.

Even the Department of Defense has a broad view of what these things could be. However, it shows renewed interest and a renewed commitment to the defense United States airspace. It is clear that the United States now has to declare it will defend its aviation space. An administration that has difficulties controlling ground sovereignty must declare air sovereignty.

But it is necessary.

TAPPER: When are you expected to be briefed again as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee

TURNER

Biden’s administration must stop briefing Congress via television and come sit down to brief us. What we’re seeing here is a number of announcements by the administration without any real