A Chinese spy balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing in real-time, according to a source familiar with the matter. The balloon, which first crossed into US airspace over Alaska in late January, captured imagery and collected some signals intelligence from US military sites.
The US government still does not know for sure whether the Chinese government could wipe the balloon's data as it received it, leaving questions about whether there is intelligence the balloon was able to gather that the US still doesn't know about. However, the intelligence community has not been overly concerned about the information the balloon was able to gather, as it is not much more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are able to glean as they orbit over similar locations.
The US had some knowledge of the balloon's path and was able to protect sensitive sites and censor some signals before the balloon was able to pick them up. The US intelligence community last year developed a method of tracking these Chinese balloons operating across the globe, controlled by the Chinese military.
A senior State Department official said that as the balloon floated across the US, it "was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations." Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, stated that the US did not assess that the balloon presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from the Chinese.
The surveillance program, which includes a number of similar balloons, is run out of the small Chinese province of Hainan, officials told CNN. The US does not know the precise size of the fleet of Chinese surveillance balloons, but sources tell CNN that the program has conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years.
The balloon first hovered for a few days in Montana after entering US airspace, leading the US to believe it was trying to surveil sensitive military sites. However, China maintains that the balloon was actually just a weather balloon thrown off course.
The US government still does not know for sure whether the Chinese government could wipe the balloon's data as it received it, leaving questions about whether there is intelligence the balloon was able to gather that the US still doesn't know about. However, the intelligence community has not been overly concerned about the information the balloon was able to gather, as it is not much more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are able to glean as they orbit over similar locations.
The US had some knowledge of the balloon's path and was able to protect sensitive sites and censor some signals before the balloon was able to pick them up. The US intelligence community last year developed a method of tracking these Chinese balloons operating across the globe, controlled by the Chinese military.
A senior State Department official said that as the balloon floated across the US, it "was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations." Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, stated that the US did not assess that the balloon presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from the Chinese.
The surveillance program, which includes a number of similar balloons, is run out of the small Chinese province of Hainan, officials told CNN. The US does not know the precise size of the fleet of Chinese surveillance balloons, but sources tell CNN that the program has conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years.
The balloon first hovered for a few days in Montana after entering US airspace, leading the US to believe it was trying to surveil sensitive military sites. However, China maintains that the balloon was actually just a weather balloon thrown off course.
! I mean, we're talking real-time info transmission from Beijing? That's some next-level espionage right there 
. And the fact that they could just float over our military sites and collect signals without us even noticing? Not cool, China 
.
And what if the data was wiped or something? That's some serious intel security concerns right there 
. I'm low-key impressed that our US intelligence community is on top of this, but also kinda worried 
.
? Come on, China, you're not fooling anyone 
. This is some serious spy drama right here 
.
this is like, what's next? A Chinese spy balloon just chillin' in our airspace, collecting intel on us and we're like "oh no" 
meanwhile they're probably watching us too with their own satellites 
I mean, can't say for sure if the data was wiped or not, but still, it's sketchy 
and honestly it's not even like we were completely blindsided, right? the us has been tracking these things for years and knew they existed.
like, isn't that a little concerning? shouldn't we be talking about something more? but i guess that's just the way it goes sometimes. anyway, it's kinda wild to think about all the intel those balloons might have collected... maybe there are still some secrets out there that we'll never know about 
I'm kinda surprised the Chinese were able to get away with this for as long as they did 
. And the fact that we're not even sure if China wiped the data from the balloon before it landed is just mind-boggling 
. I mean, they knew the balloon was floating around and could've done more to protect sensitive sites, but they still didn't take any drastic action 
. And now we're left wondering if there's intel out there that we just don't know about 
.
, but so what? We already know they're doing surveillance stuff over there 
. It's not like we haven't had our own spies watching China from up high 
.
, but come on 
. We've got more pressing issues to deal with than some fancy spy balloons 
. Let's just focus on getting along with China and not make a big deal out of this 
gotta think why china would send a spy balloon all the way to us if they were just gonna say its a weather balloon lol 
we need 2 know more about how much info it was able 2 pick up 
US should be all over this like a bad habit 
It's freaking me out just thinking about it.
The truth is rarely pure and never simple. 
The Chinese have been using similar tactics with their satellites, so while this is certainly not ideal, it's more of a case of "business as usual" in the world of espionage.