US spy balloon transmits information back to Beijing in real-time, raising questions about what it gathered.
The Chinese spy balloon that passed over the US earlier this year was able to capture images and signals intelligence from major military sites. According to a source familiar with the matter, the balloon was capable of transmitting data back to Beijing in real time. However, it's unclear whether the Chinese government could wipe the balloon's data as it received it.
The US government still doesn't know for sure what information the balloon gathered, but intelligence officials say that it is not much more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites can gather from orbit over similar locations.
A recent report by CNN revealed that a senior State Department official said that the balloon was "capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations." However, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, said that the US did not assess that the balloon presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from the Chinese.
It's worth noting that China has maintained that the balloon was actually just a weather balloon thrown off course, but officials believe they still had some ability to maneuver it. Once over Montana, China appeared to take advantage of its position to loiter over sensitive sites and try to collect 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 passed over the US earlier this year was able to capture images and signals intelligence from major military sites. According to a source familiar with the matter, the balloon was capable of transmitting data back to Beijing in real time. However, it's unclear whether the Chinese government could wipe the balloon's data as it received it.
The US government still doesn't know for sure what information the balloon gathered, but intelligence officials say that it is not much more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites can gather from orbit over similar locations.
A recent report by CNN revealed that a senior State Department official said that the balloon was "capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations." However, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, said that the US did not assess that the balloon presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from the Chinese.
It's worth noting that China has maintained that the balloon was actually just a weather balloon thrown off course, but officials believe they still had some ability to maneuver it. Once over Montana, China appeared to take advantage of its position to loiter over sensitive sites and try to collect 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.
... so basically china's spy balloon was like having a superpower for espionage 
... it could just fly around our military bases taking pics and collecting intel in real-time, and we didn't even notice until it was too late 
... i'm not surprised tho, china's been trying to get the upper hand on us for years. 
but what's even more sketchy is that we don't know if they could've deleted all the evidence before it flew back to beijing... like what if china just wiped their own digital trash 
? we'll probably never know for sure, and that's what makes me super paranoid 
... and now our sec of state cancels his trip because of this? yeah, that just adds fuel to the fire 
... either way, it's clear that both sides are getting more aggressive 
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Like, what's the point of even having satellites if you're just gonna send up a weather balloon that can "collect intel" 
? Sounds like they took all the leftover spy gadgets from the 90s and slapped 'em on a balloon 
. And now we know China was toting around some kinda high-tech espionage gear, who knew?! 
Guess it's just another example of how the world is basically one big game of "Spy vs Spy" 
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. And let's be real, our military sites are probably more secure than most places in China anyway. I don't buy the whole "weather balloon" excuse either - those things aren't exactly known for their stealth capabilities 
like what is going on with our national security?! i'm low-key freaking out over here the fact that china thinks they can just send a weather balloon and it's still got some kinda intel gathering capability is wild 
like we'll never know for sure because the us government is still clueless about it
the fact that they were able to transmit data in real time makes me think they had some pretty serious hacking skills at their disposal 
. but seriously, what exactly did china get from this balloon? was it just some vague intel or actual concrete stuff? we'll probably never know for sure 
. and can we just say the us isn't exactly the epitome of secrecy when it comes to their own spy games either? 
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I don't know if that's true tho... maybe someone from the State Department could explain it better? 
What if China wiped their servers or something and we never get to see what we did collect on them? 
I'm getting all kinds of paranoid thinking about this one... what's the US really hiding? 
It's not like it's a new tactic or anything... 
it feels like we're stuck in this never-ending game of cat and mouse. 
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I'm just waiting to see some real evidence before I believe any of this. And btw, I don't think it's just the tech that's suspicious, but also the fact that China is trying to play dumb and pretend like it was just a coincidence that their balloon ended up over our sensitive military sites 
. But, at the same time, I'm kinda impressed by how advanced their tech is - I mean, we thought our satellites were tough, but apparently, theirs are too 
so what's the deal with this US spy balloon? Like, I get it, China might've had some fancy tech up their sleeve but still... 
I mean, China's gonna deny it all they want but at this point, it's not like anyone believed their "weather balloon" excuse anyway. The fact remains, US officials have no idea what data the balloon gathered so maybe China actually did get something out of it... 
And the fact that they might have been able to transmit data back to Beijing in real-time is just straight-up cool (if you're into spy tech, lol) 
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that's some next level espionage fam! i feel bad for the us gov tho they still don't know what kinda intel they gathered 
and now tensions are super high between the two countries 
maybe we'll get some declassified docs or somethin' soon? 