Pentagon

The nominee can only afford to lose three GOP senators if Democrats unite against him so attention could now shift to Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and other potential swing votes.

Collins, who is the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, told top Pentagon officials that she believes the Chinese spy balloon could have been brought down over remote areas of Alaska or U.S. territorial waters around Alaska.

AUGUSTA, Maine - Members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee are criticizing the Pentagon for suppressing a study done by an independent group…