This article was as difficult to understand as the phenomenon itself in terms of who in the USG believes what. What we do know is that UAP now stands for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (no longer Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon). There have been rumors that the US Navy is pushing back against the narrative (supposedly pushed by the Air Force) that this is a storm in a teacup. Nothing to see here. Also, there is supposition within certain media and scientific circles that the USG is using the Chinese balloon fiasco to tar the study of UAPs. Nothing to see here, its all adversary surveillance activity. Yes, there are people in the Pentagon who feel that balloons can produce false readings that look truly anomalous. There are also those who believe that may explain some sightings, but not all, especially those with visual inputs from pilots that back up the strange radar feedback.
Right now, it is just a hot mess, which suggests to me that a debate is going on inside the government and the media is the recipient of leaks from all sides.
Subject: Washington Examiner: Congress told of likely Chinese spy balloon threat as early as 2019.
A number of personnel speaking to the Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity say that they believe that the leadership of the now-defunct Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force co-opted reports of what were likely foreign espionage tools involving small balloons or drones in order to characterize them as extraordinary for purposes of personal bias. They believe that military flight crews were sometimes ill-served by the manner in which their witness reporting was later presented by the UAP Task Force as evidence of truly extraordinary, rather than more conventionally explainable, UFOs belonging to a foreign government.