China ranks atop worldwide threats, US intelligence chiefs tell lawmakers

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) brought up the discovery and the military takedown last month of a Chinese spy balloon and other flying objects that are still unidentified, without referencing them by name, but criticizing the intelligence community as failing to prioritize these threats and risks.

“As recent events have shown, we need more and better sharing between the intelligence community and our military and the stigmatization of the service members and personnel who come forward with this data is unacceptable,” Gillibrand said.

The New York senator helped establish last year the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), focused on increasing communication between the IC and military over unidentified aerial, marine and other phenomena which could pose a risk to U.S. forces, military bases or spying on sensitive U.S. facilities – and called for it to be fully funded at ODNI.

“Can you make sure, because it was left off last year from both the [Department of Defense] and Intel’s budget,” Gilibrand noted.