Posted on 02/10/2023 9:52:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The alleged Chinese spy balloon that U.S. fighter jets shot down Saturday was likely capable of listening in on Americans’ communications and pinpointing the location of those conversing on the ground, according to the U.S. State Department.
As the massive white balloon traversed the continental U.S. last week, drifting over several sensitive military sites along the way, it carried equipment that was designed to intercept sensitive communications, said a State Department official, who provided a statement on the condition anonymity to discuss the information.
“It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications,” the official said. “It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors.”
China conducted high-altitude surveillance missions in “more than 40 countries across five continents,” the Biden Administration alleged Thursday in a new disclosure that shed light on the size and scope of suspected espionage effort that was carried out over several years. “We know these balloons are all part of a (People’s Republic of China) fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations,” the State Department official said.
Although the Chinese government maintains the aircraft was merely a wayward weather balloon, the U.S. official said the balloon’s equipment “was clearly for intelligence surveillance,” which was aimed at conducting “signals intelligence collection operations.”
The new information was collected by high-flying U-2 spy planes that captured detailed imagery of the balloon floating at around 60,000 ft. before the U.S. military shot it out of the sky, while sensors on the planes collected electronic data that emanated from the payload slung underneath the balloon. As a result, the government was able to determine some of the balloon’s capabilities and forensically piece together pictures of past flights over the U.S. and other countries
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Hey - only the NSA is allowed to do that!
I thought they already had a lock on tiktok. 😲🤔
So it WAS collecting unique intelligence information.
The only reason the chinks didn’t maneuver the balloon over the White House is because they weren’t interested in a lack of intelligence.
I think we are still being lied to.
Meanwhile, Americans are happily pounding away at their Chinese TikTok keyboards telling all...
Collecting data on me has got to be the most boring job in the world. But it does explain the notes I’m getting from the Chinese embassy reading “Too many trips to bathroom today, Drill. More fiber.”
We’ll never know for sure as the payload is likely lost for good. Probably part of the deal with the Chicoms to help Creepy Joe save face. You can shoot the balloon down to make you look tough but not recover the payload.
Remove a couple dems from key committees and the chinese had to make a move to keep the info flowing.
Biden Says Chinese Spy Balloon ‘Not a Major Breach’
But, but, bumblin' biden says everything is fine..
We’ll never know for sure as the payload is likely lost for good.
No WAY!!
Loose lips sink ships.
Hey - only the NSA is allowed to do that!
Don’t forget the 5 Eyes, FBI, CIA, DIA, Homeland Security, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and the list goes on and on. The other agencies may not listen directly - that is what “allies” are for! Big tech listens to everything and we let them.
Reports are they have found it and it is intact.
There was rage from the Chinese commander of their in-orbit satellite recon fleet.
He demanded that weather balloon get the hell out of the way because it was obscuring spacecraft vision of the ground facilities being monitored.
This is why the weather minister was fired. The command receiver aboard failed and thus the commands to the venting mechanism to vent gas from the balloon and descend while still over China did not happen. The antennas aboard to receive commands and others to transmit baro/temp data, and correlated to BeiDou geographic position, back to the China facilities, perhaps via satellite completely explains the presence of antennae.
The minister was dismissed because his failed equipment caused this uproar — and obstructed those in-orbit assets from their recon mission.
Good thing it didn’t traverse from Alaska to the Eastern Seaboard!!
Since the balloon was observed shot down and splashing down by eyeballs on the beach into known shallow waters, it’s reasonable to accept that the water was towards 40-50 some feet deep.
If this logic doesn’t work for you…. Research it out yourself. Location is off Myrtle Beach, SC. Adequate coastal and fishing charts for this purpose are available online.
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