Chinese spy balloon 'captured imagery and signals intel' as it floated over US military sites.
The Chinese spy balloon that entered the US airspace earlier this year was able to capture both images and gather some sensitive information about the US military, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The balloon was able to send data back to Beijing in real time, however, its exact capabilities are still unclear as the US government doesn't know whether it was deliberately manipulated into entering the continental US by the Chinese government.
Despite concerns over what signals intelligence the balloon may have been able to gather, officials say it's likely that nothing groundbreaking was obtained. The information gathered by the spy balloon is only slightly more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are already capable of gathering from orbiting above similar locations.
The surveillance program run out of China's small province of Hainan includes a number of similar balloons, which have conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years. It's estimated that roughly half a dozen of those flights were within US airspace, although not necessarily over the country itself.
China has maintained that the balloon was simply a weather balloon that had strayed off course, however officials believe it did retain some degree of maneuverability and took advantage of its position to loiter over sensitive sites and try to gather intelligence.
The incident further escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, including the postponement of a diplomatic visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
The Chinese spy balloon that entered the US airspace earlier this year was able to capture both images and gather some sensitive information about the US military, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The balloon was able to send data back to Beijing in real time, however, its exact capabilities are still unclear as the US government doesn't know whether it was deliberately manipulated into entering the continental US by the Chinese government.
Despite concerns over what signals intelligence the balloon may have been able to gather, officials say it's likely that nothing groundbreaking was obtained. The information gathered by the spy balloon is only slightly more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are already capable of gathering from orbiting above similar locations.
The surveillance program run out of China's small province of Hainan includes a number of similar balloons, which have conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years. It's estimated that roughly half a dozen of those flights were within US airspace, although not necessarily over the country itself.
China has maintained that the balloon was simply a weather balloon that had strayed off course, however officials believe it did retain some degree of maneuverability and took advantage of its position to loiter over sensitive sites and try to gather intelligence.
The incident 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 so dead, but also i kinda feel bad for them, like who even tries to do espionage this way lol. and the fact that it's not even that sophisticated is just lol what a waste. i mean china has been doing this for years though, so i guess they just didn't expect us to catch on or something? 
anyway, good job to our awesome US military for keeping an eye out for this! 
... Seriously though, it's kinda crazy that they've got a whole surveillance program up and running with balloons that can basically do whatever they want - it's not like we're paranoid for being suspicious of them 
. I mean, who needs actual satellites when you can just send a bunch of balloons around to gather intel? 
And yeah, the fact that Blinken had to bail on his trip to China kinda says it all - diplomacy is great and all, but when it comes down to it, we'll do whatever it takes to protect our interests 
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They think they can just float above our military sites and gather intel without us even noticing? 
It's like, come on, China! We're not born yesterday. You think we don't know how to track those things? 
And now I'm wondering if all that 'weather balloon' crap was just a cover for their true intentions... 
But at the same time I get why the US government is all worked up - national security and all that. Still, can't they just talk this stuff out instead of escalating tensions? 
! I mean, think about it, some weather balloon strays into our airspace and suddenly it's like the whole world is watching us, monitoring our every move... and for what? So some Chinese satellites can gather intel on our military sites too? 
. and what's with the "weird" signal thing? sounds like they were trying to gather intel without anyone knowing 
. can't say i'm surprised tho, china's been doing this stuff for years 
anyway, it's not like it's a new thing or anything...i heard those weather balloons are basically just an excuse for spy missions 
. I mean, we're basically talking about two different tech stacks here - one's pretty much state-of-the-art, and the other's just a... well, a weather balloon 
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. Maybe they did gather some decent intel, but I wouldn't get too worked up about it just yet. After all, as the saying goes, "you can't get a good first impression from a bad second-hand shop" 
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. A Chinese spy balloon just casually floats into our airspace and we're like "oh no, China's trying to hack us". Like, I get it, security is important, but come on, a weather balloon? It sounds like something straight out of a Bond movie 
and I'm not convinced it's worth all the fuss...
i mean i get it china's got lotsa money 2 spend on tech but c'mon 
anywayz 2 the point - i feel so bad 4 US mil sites b4 those chinese ppl r just 2 sneaky 
i swear if i wuz in charge i'd be all over that chinese spy balloon like a bad habit 
it's like, what's next? A drone or something?! 
and they're saying it was just a weather balloon that strayed off course? 
yeah right, like how cool would it be to just "accidentally" fly over the Pentagon? 
. We need to take a closer look at how our military and intelligence agencies are working together to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
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i mean idk about this chinese spy balloon thing but lets just say i'm more concerned about finding my missing socks 
This whole spy balloon thing is just kinda weird... I mean, we all know China's been trying to get their hands on some top-secret info from the US for ages, but you'd think they'd be more careful about it. I guess it just goes to show how advanced those Chinese satellites are - even if it was just basic intel gathering stuff.
anyway my sister works at a military base near by and she's freaked out about this whole thing like what if they had been monitoring her?? 
. Like, what if someone put a camera on one of those things and just started taking pictures of our military bases all day? Not cool, China 
. Who knows what's gonna happen next? I'm just hoping our military can keep us safe 
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The fact that it can send data back to Beijing in real time is unsettling... how much more sensitive info were they able to gather than our satellites already do from space