A Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US earlier this year was able to transmit information back to Beijing in real-time, according to a source familiar with the matter. The balloon's journey across North America began in Alaska and continued through Canada before entering Montana, where it hovered for several days, prompting concerns about potential surveillance of sensitive military sites.
The intelligence community has been studying the incident, but officials have not expressed significant concern about the information gathered by the balloon, which is said to be comparable to what Chinese satellites are able to collect over similar locations.
However, the US government still does not know for certain whether the Chinese government could erase data from the balloon's systems as it received it, raising questions about potential intelligence that may have been missed.
The incident has strained relations between the US and China, with diplomatic meetings being postponed due to tensions over the spy balloon's presence. The Chinese government claimed that the balloon was a lost weather balloon that strayed off course, but officials believe that Beijing did maintain control over it once it reached North America.
The surveillance program used by China is believed to be run from the province of Hainan, with at least two dozen missions conducted in recent years across multiple continents. Roughly half a dozen of these flights have involved US airspace, although not necessarily over US territory.
China's motives for conducting such surveillance are unclear, but officials believe that Beijing may have used the balloon to gather intelligence on sensitive sites and try to exploit its position in North America. The incident has highlighted concerns about Chinese espionage activities and the need for improved security measures to protect sensitive information.
The intelligence community has been studying the incident, but officials have not expressed significant concern about the information gathered by the balloon, which is said to be comparable to what Chinese satellites are able to collect over similar locations.
However, the US government still does not know for certain whether the Chinese government could erase data from the balloon's systems as it received it, raising questions about potential intelligence that may have been missed.
The incident has strained relations between the US and China, with diplomatic meetings being postponed due to tensions over the spy balloon's presence. The Chinese government claimed that the balloon was a lost weather balloon that strayed off course, but officials believe that Beijing did maintain control over it once it reached North America.
The surveillance program used by China is believed to be run from the province of Hainan, with at least two dozen missions conducted in recent years across multiple continents. Roughly half a dozen of these flights have involved US airspace, although not necessarily over US territory.
China's motives for conducting such surveillance are unclear, but officials believe that Beijing may have used the balloon to gather intelligence on sensitive sites and try to exploit its position in North America. The incident has highlighted concerns about Chinese espionage activities and the need for improved security measures to protect sensitive information.
But seriously, have you guys seen the state of our intel on China's surveillance program? It's like they're hiding in plain sight! 
The fact that a Chinese spy balloon was able to transmit info back to Beijing in real-time is just mind-blowing. And now we know they've been doing this for at least two dozen missions, with half a dozen involving US airspace... it's like they have some kind of eagle eye on us.
It's all about cover-ups and spin. The thing is, we just don't know what they're capable of erasing from their systems. And that's the scary part – what if they've been playing us all along?
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just heard that China's spy balloon was transmitioning info back to Beijing in real-time while it was hovering over Montana 
like, how did we not catch this? 
and now we know they've been doing these sorts of thing for years, like, who knew China had a whole surveillance program going on? 
at least 2 dozen missions already, that's some serious spy game 
. And we thought our own gov was bad 
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. I mean, it's not like China is going to just keep collecting intel on us and do nothing with it, right? 
. Ugh, my mind is all over the place about this one 
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Of course, the US government is playing it cool, saying it's no big deal because it's just like what Chinese satellites can collect... sure, okay. 
We need to keep a close eye on this and make sure our security measures are on point, not just for US airspace, but globally. Can't let China get ahead of us (or behind us, I guess) 