Pentagon Under Fire for Response to Chinese Spy Balloon

Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and ranking member Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) listen as Assistant Secretary of Defense For Homeland Defense And Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton (R) speaks with Director for Operations for Joint Staff LTG Douglas Sims II (L) during the committee's Subcommittee on Defense hearing "to determine what decisions went into how we dealt with the Chinese spy balloon" on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 9, 2023. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Defense officials are under fire for their decision to allow a Chinese spy balloon to traverse the continental United States.

Lawmakers told members of the defense community that they would be held accountable should Congress find fault with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) decision-making during a Senate Appropriations Defense hearing on the issue of China’s high-altitude surveillance balloons.