(CNSNews.com) - The United States military must have a policy regarding what it calls "high altitude flying objects" that enter U.S. airspace, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday:
"This is -- what's gone on the last two weeks or so, 10 days, has been nothing short of craziness. And the military needs to have a plan to not only determine what's out there, but determine the dangers that go with it," Tester said.
Tester has criticized the Biden administration for allowing a huge Chinese spy balloon to hover over his state in late January/early February, saying at the time, "I don't want a damn balloon going over the United States."
On Sunday, Tester repeated that he wanted that spy balloon shot down as soon as it reached U.S. airspace over the Aleutian Islands.
"I think what transpired was -- is, is that the military took assessments as to potential collateral damage and the threat of this balloon. And, you know, we pay these folks good money to make sure we keep our nation safe. And I respect their view, and the president followed that.
“Going on in the future, I think there needs to be a plan that's right up front, so we know exactly what's going to happen when these balloons come in and their threat is assessed, what's going to happen.
"But -- but, look, we -- I got briefed both in open session and a classified session. And, quite honestly, the military and intelligence community's explanation of what transpired with that balloon, I accept.
"Is it something that I would have done right out -- right out of the chute? No. I would have probably done it different, but that's not saying that I'm right or I'm wrong or they're right or they're wrong.
"In the end, we ended up with a balloon that they've recovered, and they're going to take and put it back together and reverse-engineer it, and we'll find out what they're up to, plus the information that was gathered while it came across the United States."
Host Margaret Brennan pointed to the damage that may have been done by a Chinese balloon hovering over ICBM sites, intercepting signals intelligence or chatter.
Tester told her, "There better not have been damage done, or it makes my case for shooting the doggone thing down over the Aleutian Islands.
"Look, we've got ICBMs in Montana,” Tester continued: “We have got 150 of them. Malmstrom Air Force Base is an incredible deterrent for this country and has been since the early '60s.
“They -- the military made an assessment that they wouldn't be able to gather the information that -- that the military thought was important to China. And, if that didn't happen that way, somebody screwed up."
Tester on January 31 introduced a bill aimed at preventing foreign countries from buying American farmland.
On Sunday, Tester told CBS, "This is a ban against China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, folks who don't want to see us exist anymore as a nation. I don't think they should have any opportunity to try to dictate our food supply."
"And I'm all about private property rights. I think people ought to be able to sell who they want to sell to, but not in this particular case, because China wants to do bad things to us. Same thing with North Korea, Russia and Iran.
“So, let's -- let's take that off the table, both in farmland and in agribusinesses."