CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rep. Jeff Jackson admits his opinion on the recent Chinese spy balloon shifted after speaking to members of the U.S. military.
"I started in a place of skepticism about the timeline for their decision-making and ended in a place of confidence that they handle this in the best possible way," Jackson said on WCNC's Flashpoint.
Jackson serves on the Armed Services committee.
"I have the ability to speak to some members of military leadership. And I would just say that they educated me about the intelligence advantages to doing to handling it, the way that they handled it," Jackson said.
The balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina after traversing across the country, up to 60-thousand feet in the air. Some criticized the Biden administration for not shooting it down sooner. Jackson said his briefings gave him a better understanding of the military's strategy.
"I do have a better sense of that at this point. And I think that the entire public will have a better sense of that sooner rather than later," he said.
Jackson didn't give a timeline for when more intelligence would be shared with Americans. He said the U.S. might react differently if the Chinese were try something similar in the future.
"This was just an incredibly dumb idea on their part," he concluded. "It would be just an unbelievable miscalculation for them to try this stunt again."
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