US Intelligence Community Confirms Chinese Spy Balloon Was Capable of Transmitting Information Back to Beijing in Real-Time.
A US intelligence source has revealed that the Chinese spy balloon that transited over the country earlier this year was able to capture imagery and collect signals intelligence from US military sites. The balloon, which first crossed into US airspace over Alaska in late January, passed through Canada and down into Montana, where it hovered for a few days.
The source claims that the balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing in real-time, but it remains unclear whether China could have wiped the data as it received it. This raises questions about potential intelligence gathered by the US that may not be known yet.
Despite this, senior officials have stated that US signals intelligence collection operations were conducted on the balloon while it floated across the country. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, said that the US did not assess the balloon presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from China.
The surveillance program run by China includes several balloons operating over various continents, with at least two dozen missions conducted in recent years. Roughly half a dozen of these flights have been within US airspace, though not necessarily over US territory.
China has maintained that the balloon was actually just a weather balloon thrown off course, but officials believe some ability to maneuver the balloon existed. Once over Montana, China appeared to take advantage of its position to loiter over sensitive sites and try to collect intelligence.
The incident has escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, including the postponement of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's diplomatic visit to China.
A US intelligence source has revealed that the Chinese spy balloon that transited over the country earlier this year was able to capture imagery and collect signals intelligence from US military sites. The balloon, which first crossed into US airspace over Alaska in late January, passed through Canada and down into Montana, where it hovered for a few days.
The source claims that the balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing in real-time, but it remains unclear whether China could have wiped the data as it received it. This raises questions about potential intelligence gathered by the US that may not be known yet.
Despite this, senior officials have stated that US signals intelligence collection operations were conducted on the balloon while it floated across the country. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, said that the US did not assess the balloon presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from China.
The surveillance program run by China includes several balloons operating over various continents, with at least two dozen missions conducted in recent years. Roughly half a dozen of these flights have been within US airspace, though not necessarily over US territory.
China has maintained that the balloon was actually just a weather balloon thrown off course, but officials believe some ability to maneuver the balloon existed. Once over Montana, China appeared to take advantage of its position to loiter over sensitive sites and try to collect intelligence.
The incident has escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, including the postponement of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's diplomatic visit to China.
. I mean, it's one thing to have some fancy surveillance tech, but is it really that hard to figure out what they're doing? 
China's been trying to get a toe in the door with their balloons for years now, and we just keep letting them waltz right over our airspace. Like, what's the point of even having a defense system if you're not gonna actually use it? 
And now we're all worked up because they might've wiped some intel from the balloon? 
I'm skeptical, to say the least... 
gotta wonder how much intel was actually collected by those balloons 
that would be super suspicious... but at the same time, if they did transmit info in real-time, that's some serious spy game stuff 
... and I'm not buying the whole "weather balloon" story 
... sounds like an excuse to me. anyway, gotta keep an eye on this situation, 'cause it's clearly escalating 
i'm literally shaking with anger right now 
but at the same time i hope our guys in the us intelligence community were able to gather some good intel on china's operations 
fingers crossed we can use this to our advantage and keep them in check 
and now we gotta worry about potential security risks from all these "weather" balloons 
. gotta be something more going on here than just a lost balloon 
i mean what even is the point of having borders if you can just send a spy balloon over? 
and it's not like they were just collecting random info either, they were trying to get intel from specific US military sites 
this is some serious espionage stuff 
and now we know china has been doing this for years with at least 2 dozen missions already 
so yeah, tensions between the US and china are about to escalate big time 
! Like, can't they just leave us alone? 
. And now we know that the US was able to intercept some of this info 
. It's like, what were they expecting us not to notice? 
. Like, come on, Secretary Blinken had a diplomatic visit postponed because of it? 
. It's like, can't we have some clarity for once? 
. Can't they just scale it back a notch? 
Anyway, I’m not surprised that this has escalated tensions between the US and China. We need to be careful about who we let get their eyes on our military sites, you know? It’s like, what’s next? A spy plane?! 
and now the usa is all "hey china we know what you're doing" 
i mean we should probably know what china's up to, but at the same time we don't wanna be paranoid or anything 
it's like, we're basically poking them with a stick and saying "hey, you can't spy on us" 
it's all just so... spy-game 
if china was using some kind of jamming device to wipe the data as it received it... that would be super suspicious 
. and now this incident has super high tension between the us and china... what's gonna happen next? 
i mean, china was literally just flying around collecting intel on us without even trying to hide it 
and now our gov is all like "oh no, our secrets are safe" 
but let's be real we don't know what they took with them 
or maybe they're just going to use it against us in the future