Floating objects raise questions about surveillance, national defense and diplomacy

 

Floating objects raise questions about surveillance, national defense¹ and diplomacy²

Transcript³

NPR's Asma Khalid talks to David Gompert, a longtime presidential adviser⁴, about the unidentified objects that have been floating in the sky. U.S. jets shot down three of them in the past three days.

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

All these unidentified objects floating up in the sky are bringing up fresh questions about global surveillance, national defense and diplomacy. We've called up David Gompert, a longtime presidential adviser in all of those areas. He has served five administrations, from Reagan all the way through Obama. He was acting⁵ director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, and he's now a visiting professor at the U.S. Naval⁶ Academy.

Good morning, sir. It's good to have you with us.

DAVID GOMPERT: Good morning, Asma.

KHALID: So that suspected Chinese spy balloon, the one that was shot down on Feb. 4 - it led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to put off his planned diplomatic trip to China. And one of the goals of that trip was improving basic communications between the two countries. So I want to understand what is missing right now in the way that the United States and China are speaking with one another.

GOMPERT: What is missing is dialogue. The U.S.-China strategic nuclear relationship, which is stable because of mutual⁷ deterrence⁸, but it is fraught⁹ with suspicion. If the Chinese weren't suspicious, they weren't - wouldn't be sending a spy balloon over the United States. If we weren't suspicious, we wouldn't be so worked up about the implications of the Chinese spy balloon activities. And that level of suspicion is very troublesome and potentially dangerous. What we need is not simply a hotline. We need a dialogue.

KHALID: A dialogue. You know, you mentioned a hotline, though, there. And I want to ask you a follow-up on that. There were reports that when this first Chinese spy balloon was spotted¹⁰, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to contact his Chinese counterpart by means of a special crisis line. He was not able to get through with success. And I wanted to understand - I mean, are both countries - do you feel that the United States and China are receptive to this kind of direct communication between top officials in moments of crisis?

GOMPERT: The short answer is no. Let me explain, if I might, Asma, what this operation by the Chinese is and what it's not. It's criminal. One can fly satellites any time for virtually any purpose as long as they're in space. But in the atmosphere, flying in another country's airspace is a crime. So we had crimes committed against us by the Chinese, and we are right to be outraged¹¹. Secondly¹², it's a political blunder, as far as I can see, because the Chinese should have known that at least the balloon, if not other objects, would be detected and neutralized¹³. And that's exactly what has happened. So it's an embarrassment¹⁴ to the Chinese.

Why are the Chinese doing this? It's not because there's an opportunity for China to take a huge leap forward in strategic surveillance and to surpass the United States. It's quite the opposite. This reflects the fact that the Chinese are way behind the United States in strategic surveillance, and they're trying to catch up by whatever means they can, including surveillance balloons.

KHALID: You had mentioned earlier, though, this need to build dialogue, to have constructive¹⁵ dialogue.

GOMPERT: Yes.

KHALID: And if, you know, hotlines are not working in moments of crisis, then you sort of have to go back and say, well, how do you have these - how do you reestablish trust? And right now when you look at the relations between the United States and China, they are already strained. What are some of the roadblocks to establishing trust? How can that happen?

GOMPERT: Well, I'm not talking about a hotline. That, of course, is very important in moments of crisis. I'm talking about an ongoing¹⁶ dialogue about purpose. Each power assigns nuclear weapons, why it has nuclear weapons, why it has the nuclear weapons it has in order to clarify, eliminate, or at least alleviate¹⁷ misconceptions, address suspicions and, I believe, improve stability and security at the nuclear strategic level that way. That's a dialogue. That's a process.

KHALID: And how do you build that dialogue?

GOMPERT: Well, I think this is an opportunity. A lot of U.S. talking heads are saying we should be outraged and we should have no communications with the Chinese about this; we should retaliate¹⁸ in some way. I think we should do the opposite. We should insist that the Chinese join the United States in a deep and continuing conversation about the purpose of nuclear weapons so we can clear up misconceptions and suspicions which could lead to instability and even conflict.

KHALID: Thank you very much for taking the time.

GOMPERT: You're quite welcome.

KHALID: David Gompert is a visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and a longtime national security expert.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

7 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

8 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

9 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

10 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

11 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

12 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

13 neutralized   

v.使失效( neutralize的过去式和过去分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化

参考例句：

• Acidity in soil can be neutralized by spreading lime on it. 土壤的酸性可以通过在它上面撒石灰来中和。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This strategy effectively neutralized what the Conservatives had hoped would be a vote-winner. 这一策略有效地冲淡了保守党希望在选举中获胜的心态。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

15 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

16 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

17 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

18 retaliate   

v.报复，反击

参考例句：

• He sought every opportunity to retaliate against his enemy.他找机会向他的敌人反击。
• It is strictly forbidden to retaliate against the quality inspectors.严禁对质量检验人员进行打击报复。