Here's the deal ... the DoD issued a lengthy statement Saturday explaining what exactly happened leading up to an F-22 fighter jet of ours safely shooting down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, just outside of Surfside Beach, SC. We all remember that, yes?

They reiterated what everyone had already heard at that point ... that the U.S. believes the balloon had been purposely sent here by China, and that it was intended to surveil us.

However, in explaining the balloon posed no serious threat to us -- other than breaching our airspace/pushing the boundaries of our sovereignty -- the DoD goes on to cite an unnamed defense official ... who claims this happened before under DT's administration.

The anonymous official says, "Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration." There's no other details about when exactly this might've happened, or to what degree ... namely, did they do full fly-overs???

In the wake of this Dept. of Defense official getting Trump's name in the mix, a handful of former Trump administration officials have come out of the woodwork to deny this ever happened during his time in office. And we're talking heavy hitters -- guys who'd know.

The former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, went on FOX News to flat-out refute what the DoD has said publicly ... noting, if this had in fact happened during the Trump years like they claim -- it would've been spotted and certainly reported by the media.