China spy balloon gathered information from multiple military sites

China spy balloon gathered information from multiple military sites despite attempts to block it: report

Tom Vanden Brook, Holly Rosenkrantz and Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY
Mon, April 3, 2023 at 3:36 p.m. GMT-4·2 min read

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-spy-balloon-gathered-information-193645797.html


"The Chinese balloon that flew across the United States earlier this year was able to gather intelligence from several U.S. military sites and transmit it back to Beijing in real time, despite the Biden administration's attempts to block it, according to a report from NBC News.

The high-altitude balloon was able to make multiple trips over some of the sites before it was shot down on Feb. 4, at times flying in a figure-eight formation, NBC said, citing two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official.

The FBI continues to assess parts of the Chinese spy balloon recovered after it was shot down in February, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, said Monday.

The Pentagon maintains that measures it took to prevent China from acquiring intelligence from sensitive military sites mitigated the balloon’s effectiveness, Singh said.

The balloon provided “little additive value” beyond what China already has, she said. China also operates spy satellites.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby declined to confirm the balloon's movements but told reporters that it "absolutely had self-maneuvering capability...from remote operators."

"That wasn't a new development for this balloon, and it didn't come as a surprise to us that it had that capability," he said.

Kirby said the U.S. is still conducting its analysis of what was recovered."

 

Tit for tat. This is news because it was so public, not because it was anything new.

 

I dunno. Free balloons seem poorly suited to the purpose but I suppose the FBI knows what they are about?