US spy balloon's real-time transmission capabilities raise questions about intelligence gathering. According to a source, the Chinese spy balloon that passed over the US earlier this year was able to capture images and signals intelligence from US military sites, including Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.
The balloon, which first entered US airspace over Alaska in late January, was equipped with technology that allowed it to transmit information back to Beijing in real-time. However, the exact extent of the data gathered by the balloon remains unknown, as the US government does not know whether China wiped the device's memory while receiving the data.
Despite this uncertainty, the intelligence community has downplayed the significance of the information the balloon was able to gather, suggesting that it is not substantially more advanced than what Chinese satellites are capable of collecting over similar locations. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, stated that the US did not assess the balloon as presenting a significant collection hazard beyond existing technical capabilities from China.
The surveillance program involving balloons, primarily run out of Hainan Province, has conducted at least two dozen missions across five continents in recent years, with roughly half a dozen flights occurring within US airspace. The US does not know the precise size of the fleet, but officials familiar with the intelligence suggest that several deployments have been within US airspace.
China has maintained that the balloon was merely a weather balloon thrown off course, while the US is still assessing whether it was deliberately maneuvered into the continental US by the Chinese government. Officials believe China did maintain some ability to control the balloon once it reached Montana, using its position to loiter over sensitive sites and collect intelligence.
The incident has further escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, with the postponement of a diplomatic visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
The balloon, which first entered US airspace over Alaska in late January, was equipped with technology that allowed it to transmit information back to Beijing in real-time. However, the exact extent of the data gathered by the balloon remains unknown, as the US government does not know whether China wiped the device's memory while receiving the data.
Despite this uncertainty, the intelligence community has downplayed the significance of the information the balloon was able to gather, suggesting that it is not substantially more advanced than what Chinese satellites are capable of collecting over similar locations. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, stated that the US did not assess the balloon as presenting a significant collection hazard beyond existing technical capabilities from China.
The surveillance program involving balloons, primarily run out of Hainan Province, has conducted at least two dozen missions across five continents in recent years, with roughly half a dozen flights occurring within US airspace. The US does not know the precise size of the fleet, but officials familiar with the intelligence suggest that several deployments have been within US airspace.
China has maintained that the balloon was merely a weather balloon thrown off course, while the US is still assessing whether it was deliberately maneuvered into the continental US by the Chinese government. Officials believe China did maintain some ability to control the balloon once it reached Montana, using its position to loiter over sensitive sites and collect intelligence.
The incident has further escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, with the postponement of a diplomatic visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
. and the fact that they're gettin all sneaky with these balloons, wipin out memories or somethin', is just wild 
... especially with blinken's diplomatic visit postponed 
. i'm low-key freakin out about it 
it's literally like a big ol' birdseye camera in the sky. and now the US knows it wasnt just a coincidence that it flew over malmstrom afb, lol what were they thinking?!? 
like we cant just keep up w/ the chinese in spy games 
.
let's show china who's boss! 
The whole thing feels like a pretty big deal, even if Gen. VanHerck is trying to downplay it. What's really going on here? Is the US just not paying attention or is there something more to this? 
. and the fact that the US doesn't know how much data was collected from this one balloon is mind-blowing... it's like they just wiped the memory or something 
. i'm no expert or anything, but even gen vanherck is saying its not a big deal, but like shouldn't we be taking this seriously? 
.
anyway i'm lowkey shook by this tho china needs to come clean about what they're doing with these balloons is that too much to ask?? 
I mean, I get it, China's got some major tech going on, but this is straight-up spy game. And the fact that they're all like "it was just a weather balloon" makes me wanna roll my eyes. Like, no, China, you were definitely trying to snoop on our military bases. 
It's like, if you're gonna do something this invasive, at least have the decency to be upfront about it. Transparency is key, folks! 
. This whole thing just reeks of poor intel coordination in my opinion 
and yeah i get that the US govt is downplaying it, but come on, 2 dozen missions across 5 continents? that's a lot of surveillance 
thing! So, apparently, some Chinese spy balloon just cruised over the US like it was no big deal? 
. And now with Blinken's visit getting postponed... like, what's next? 
i mean, what's the point of that kinda surveillance? 
gen. vanherck seems chill tho, but still 
i'm curious what the gov knows about china's balloon fleet 
. But seriously though, it's kinda fishy that China was able to transmit info back to Beijing and then wipe the device's memory like they were trying to delete their browser history 
. And now we know China has been using balloons to collect intel for at least two dozen missions across five continents - that's a lot of cake 
. But on a more serious note, it's not like this is the first time US spy tech has been compromised by our enemies... I mean, have you seen all those Hollywood action movies where spies are just chillin' in a hotel room with their Wi-Fi password displayed on a sticky note?