bullshit. Why would I not let a spy balloon fly for a week for the world to see a geopolitical rival violating sovereign airspace to bring them over to my side? Why would I not get as much intel as possible on spying communication/encryption? It's not like it'd made one lick of difference if it was brought down in Alaska. Cons would be "outraged" that it ever came into our air space anyway. They'd be bitching about how unsafe it was to bring down thousands of pounds over American territory if on land. They'd be wailing about how "shooting it down w/o knowing the contents endangered national security.....what if it was a virus on board, spores, mites!?"
It is common knowledge that the intel people kept important information away from Trump simply because he didn't know how to process and act on it.
Breaking News: China sends spy balloons over military sites worldwide, U.S. officials say China’s spy balloons are part of an effort to assess the military capabilities of countries around the world, U.S. officials say The balloons have some advantages over the satellites that orbit the earth in regular patterns. They fly closer to earth and can evade radar. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/us/politics/china-spy-balloons.html Wednesday, February 8, 2023 1:21 PM ET
Yet, the Northern Command general said they did not shoot it down upon entry to the U.S. because "it did not pose a threat" and “I could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent." Those guys are famous for having lots of meetings. They might need to schedule one to have a little discussion about their response should be in such scenarios. Just sayin, a little update might be in order.
I saw that Biden led off with the semi-conductor thing during his state of the union. How wonderful of him. At least he has done one thing right.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/09/chinese-balloon-surveillance-program/ The State Department on Thursday released details on China’s high-altitude balloon surveillance program, declassifying information collected by U.S. U-2 spy planes and other sources to expose what it’s calling a sophisticated effort to surveil “more than 40 countries across 5 continents.” Much of the information was first revealed earlier this week by The Washington Post, but its wider publication to the media suggests an effort by the U.S. government to name and shame Chinese surveillance tactics following Beijing’s breach of American airspace last week. The U.S. government release said that high resolution imagery captured during the U-2 flybys revealed that the balloon was capable of signals intelligence operations far beyond the abilities of a weather balloon, boasting “multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications,” said the official. The State Department said China’s balloon spy operations are carried out by the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, using balloons manufactured by a firm that has a direct relationship with China’s military. “The company also advertises balloon products on its website and hosts videos from past flights, which appear to have overflown at least U.S. airspace and airspace of other countries,” the State Department said in a statement. “These advertised balloon videos seemingly have similar flight patterns as the balloons we have been discussing this week.” Thursday’s disclosure indicates an eagerness by the Biden administration to elevate China’s balloon espionage despite warnings from China’s foreign ministry that doing so could jeopardize bilateral relations. “Exaggerating or hyping up the ‘China threat’ narrative is not conducive to building trust or improving ties between our two countries,” Mao Ning, a ministry spokesperson said Wednesday, “nor can it make the U.S. safer.” U.S. officials have insisted that it was China’s “irresponsible” violation of U.S. sovereignty that hurt bilateral ties. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off a trip to China on Friday, just hours before he was scheduled to depart, due to the balloon incursion. After an F-22 fighter jet took down the balloon Saturday, Beijing called the move an overreaction and said it reserved the right to “respond further.” The incident underscored the fragility of U.S.-China ties. The very purpose of Blinken’s trip was to figure out how the U.S. and China can manage incidents such as last week’s balloon incursion. Even as Blinken expressed an interest in rescheduling the trip, rhetoric between the two powers suggest it may take longer than anticipated. On Thursday, Republican lawmakers and even some Democrats criticized the Biden administration for not shooting down the balloon before it traversed much of the interior United States. “I don’t want a damn balloon going over the United States when we could have taken it down over the Aleutian Islands,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) in a hearing with defense officials held by the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I got a problem with a Chinese balloon flying over my state.” U.S. officials say they have discovered at least five instances in which Chinese spy balloons flew over U.S. territory, including three during the Trump administration. Tester pressed the defense officials on why the military didn’t shoot down those balloons. “The duration of this particular balloon was much longer and info that we have since gleaned about the balloons that have transited globally was only recently discovered,” Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, responded. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican whose state the balloon also traversed, said the United States needed to consider such crafts a threat just as soon as they enter U.S. airspace. “At what point do we say … a spy balloon coming from China is a threat to our sovereignty? It should be the minute it crosses the line. And that line is Alaska,” she said. China’s surveillance technology is “not the type of equipment you’d expect on a balloon conducting a meteorological mission,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charlie “Tuna” Moore, a former fighter pilot who helped run operations out of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and is familiar with aerial surveillance equipment. Without knowing exactly what the Chinese were collecting, he said, “I would imagine they would be interested in collecting emissions or signals coming off a variety of systems” that can be analyzed for vulnerabilities. “They’d pull those signals apart and look for vulnerabilities or ways to tap into them on a more permanent basis,” said Moore, now a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. “Building a picture of our radar, weapon system and communication capabilities and those of our allies is the whole point.” Citing U.S. officials with knowledge of the situation, The Post reported earlier this week that some of China’s balloons were outfitted with electrooptical sensors or digital cameras that, depending on their resolution, can capture highly precise images, and with radio signal and satellite transmission capability. The Post also reported Saturday that the program involved a company that supplies the PLA as part of China’s civil military fusion program. The latest: The U.S. intelligence community linked the Chinese spy balloon to a vast surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army. The surveillance balloon effort has for years collected information on military assets in several countries, U.S. officials say. The balloon’s journey: The U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast on Saturday, a day after Americans reported multiple sightings as the balloon made its way across the United States. Here’s a timeline of the balloon’s journey and photos of the recovery. The response from China: China accused the United States of an “overreaction” and reiterated claims that the airship was a civilian vessel that had unexpectedly drifted off course. Chinese authorities confirmed that an “unmanned aircraft” flying over Latin America also came from China. Why use a spy balloon? Spy balloons “offer a few advantages over the use of satellites or drones,” James Rogers, an academic at Cornell and the University of Southern Denmark, said in an email. The Defense Department told Congress that similar surveillance balloons had been spotted in U.S. airspace before, and a top U.S. general said past incursions by Chinese balloons went undetected by the Pentagon.
Now it is Russian's satellite. Space Force Tracks Debris After Secretive Russian Satellite Breaks Up in Orbit https://www.cnet.com/science/space/...cretive-russian-satellite-breaks-up-in-orbit/