US Chinese Spy Balloon Was Able to Transmit Information Back to Beijing in Real Time, Says Source.
A US spy balloon that crossed into the country earlier this year was able to capture imagery and collect signals intelligence from US military sites. The balloon, which was eventually shot down by the US off the East Coast on February 4, was also able to transmit information back to Beijing in real time.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the Chinese government is still not sure whether it could have wiped the data as it received it from the balloon. This raises questions about whether there is intelligence that the balloon was able to gather that the US still doesn't know about.
The US government has been assessing the possibility that the balloon was not deliberately maneuvered into the continental US by the Chinese government, with China claiming that it was just a weather balloon thrown off course. However, officials believe that China did maintain some ability to maneuver the balloon once it was over Montana, allowing it to loiter over sensitive sites and try to collect intelligence.
The surveillance program using similar balloons is believed to be run out of the small Chinese province of Hainan, with at least two dozen missions conducted over five continents in recent years. Roughly half a dozen of those flights have been within US airspace, although not necessarily over US territory.
The incident has further escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, including the postponement of a diplomatic visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
A US spy balloon that crossed into the country earlier this year was able to capture imagery and collect signals intelligence from US military sites. The balloon, which was eventually shot down by the US off the East Coast on February 4, was also able to transmit information back to Beijing in real time.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the Chinese government is still not sure whether it could have wiped the data as it received it from the balloon. This raises questions about whether there is intelligence that the balloon was able to gather that the US still doesn't know about.
The US government has been assessing the possibility that the balloon was not deliberately maneuvered into the continental US by the Chinese government, with China claiming that it was just a weather balloon thrown off course. However, officials believe that China did maintain some ability to maneuver the balloon once it was over Montana, allowing it to loiter over sensitive sites and try to collect intelligence.
The surveillance program using similar balloons is believed to be run out of the small Chinese province of Hainan, with at least two dozen missions conducted over five continents in recent years. Roughly half a dozen of those flights have been within US airspace, although not necessarily over US territory.
The incident has further escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, including the postponement of a diplomatic visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing... like if you think about it, a balloon can just be flying over you right? And we're like "oh no, China's spying on us" 
but what if they were just collecting data from the balloon and sending it back in real-time? That raises so many questions... did they actually find out something that our government doesn't know about yet? 
And if China's saying it was just a coincidence, then wouldn't they have been more careful? 
Like, it's crazy how much technology is capable of these days...
. And now we're wonderin' if China could've wiped the data as it was comin' in, or if there's some other info that the US is still oblivious to... Like, what exactly were they collectin'? Signals intelligence? Imagery? This whole thing is just plain suspicious 
Like, what would your bosses say if they knew the CEO was just chillin' up there taking selfies and collecting secrets? 
It’s wild to think that China has this advanced surveillance program and we still don't know about half a dozen flights over US airspace. It raises so many questions about our own security measures and how we're not catching on to this stuff sooner. I guess it's a good reminder that in the spy game, everything is a guessing match... 
. I mean, what's next? Like we thought those facial recognition cameras were a big deal before these guys came along with their super-techy spy balloons 
. This whole thing just feels so fishy 
, you know? We need to get to the bottom of this and figure out what else these balloons are capable of 
. I mean, all this sounds super suspicious, but at the same time, you gotta wonder if China was just really lucky with that weather balloon thingy 
. The fact that they're saying it was just a random mistake is hard to swallow, but who knows, maybe they were telling the truth 
. This whole thing is just adding more fuel to the fire between the US and China, and now we're paying the price with Blinken's visit getting postponed 
still, usa's gotta step up its game and keep its airspace secure
It's like, super suspicious dude! And the fact that they might have wiped the data as it received it from the balloon... who knows what we missed out on?! 
The US is already being all secretive about what happened, but I'm low-key hoping someone comes forward with some juicy deets soon 
