Chinese spy balloon China

US intelligence officials believe that the recently recovered Chinese spy balloon is part of an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military, ...

China continues to argue that the vessel was a weather balloon that drifted off-course and that its path over the United States was an accident. But, according to one member of the House Intelligence Committee, “there’s number of reasons why we wouldn’t do that. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. The commander of US Northern Command, Gen. It’s not a stealth bomber.” The surveillance program, which includes a number of similar balloons, is in part run out of the small Chinese province of Hainan, officials tell CNN. “After all, this is a balloon. There’s a very high intelligence value in having it.” Defense officials say that the US gleaned important clues to the answers of some of these questions while the balloon was transiting the United States. Rather, there are multiple “variations,” these people said. Sources familiar with the effort say that officials want to understand as much as possible about the balloon’s technical capabilities including what kind of data it could intercept and gather, what satellites it was linked to and whether it has any vulnerabilities that the US might be able to exploit. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that China’s broader surveillance program “has violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents,” and that the United States will share “relevant findings” on the spy balloon “with Congress as well as with our allies and partners around the world.”

The surveillance balloon program has been operating "for several years," Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.

Last week, the military tracked a balloon that crossed the U.S. He said the U.S. The military is still working to recover debris from the airship. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. “You’ve heard us talk in the past about the fact that this is a program that’s been operated for several years.” Glen VanHerck, the commander of U.S. is aware of four previous balloons that have crossed into U.S. assessments of the balloons, Ryder said the U.S. This is what we assess is part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program,” Ryder said. The surveillance balloon program has been operating “for several years,” Brig. territory were part of a broader surveillance effort by Beijing, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson said Wednesday. Pat Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon.

The highlights this week: Beijing's surveillance balloon reveals the fragility of the U.S.-China relationship, U.S. President Joe Biden emphasizes competition ...

Military Capable of Learning From the War in Ukraine?](https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/02/us-military-lessons-war-ukraine-russia-weapons-tactics/) by Raphael S. But the United States seems to be ahead in terms of actual products, despite its fears that China is [winning](https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/China-trounces-U.S.-in-AI-research-output-and-quality) the AI race. shootdown or its refusal to take [top-level calls](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/07/1155265608/pentagon-says-china-rebuffed-request-for-a-phone-call-after-balloon-shoot-down) from the Pentagon. [complaints](https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-politics-united-states-government-china-antony-blinken-a75ba8d9fa157e5b87318483141b19ca) over the U.S. Then—as now—the panic was worsened by a lack of transparency, leading the United States to be convinced of an imaginary “ [missile gap](https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2011-05/missile-gap-myth-its-progeny).” Of course the Soviet threat was real, but paranoias did damage to U.S. Republican politicians speculated that the balloon contained “ [bioweapons](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-forces-rep-james-comer-to-admit-theres-no-evidence-spy-balloon-had-bioweapons)” and that U.S. [tendency](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-american-pundits-china-isnt-a-country-its-a-fantasyland/2015/05/29/24ba60e0-0431-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html) among U.S. [hullaballoon](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2023/02/07/rep-houlahan-on-how-to-end-the-china-hulaballoon-00081520)” from breaking out among U.S. [meteorological device](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/us/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-civilian-device.html) that went off course—a dubious claim, given the size of the vessel. The [extreme cold weather](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/asia/east-asia-cold-snap-climate-japan-korea-china-climate-intl-hnk/index.html) in north Asia late last month could have disrupted the balloon’s course. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s now-postponed [diplomatic trip](https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/03/china-spy-balloon-surveillance-montana-us-nuclear-blinken/) to China, though.) [shot down](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/china-spy-balloon-new-photos-show-the-us-navy-recovering-downed-aircraft-off-us-coast.html) a high-altitude Chinese balloon last Saturday off the coast of South Carolina, they recovered a potential intelligence haul.

One of the first interesting things we learned, even before an F-22 Raptor downed that suspected Chinese spy balloon, was that Beijing had used airships to ...

She also [acknowledged having provided false information](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/19/sarah-sanders-lied-according-mueller-report-shes-calling-it-slip-tongue/?itid=lk_inline_manual_8&itid=lk_inline_manual_97) in his defense,” [Colby Itkowitz reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/07/sarah-huckabee-sanders-state-of-the-union-rebuttal/?utm_campaign=wp_power_up&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_powerup&itid=lk_inline_manual_97). The remarks this year clocked in at 72 minutes, a full 10 minutes longer than he spoke in March 2022,” [Mariana Alfaro reports.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/07/state-of-the-union-length/?utm_campaign=wp_power_up&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_powerup&itid=lk_inline_manual_84) [lasted](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/annual-messages-congress-the-state-the-union-0) 82 minutes. In choosing Sanders, Republicans indicated that her brand of confrontational cultural conservatism represents the future of their party — and that deep ties to Trump are not viewed as a detriment even as the GOP has signaled a desire to move past him.” And for Biden, the evening demonstrated that his heady days of accomplishment during the last Congress have abruptly come to a close,” “The same day, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled the opposite way: Its state constitution did not protect abortion, allowing a near-total ban to go into effect.” But one bright spot is that there’s a ‘nationwide conversation about abortion like never before,’ [Elisabeth] Smith, of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said. - State courts take the reins: “Ultimate constitutional oversight of abortion law has moved from the U.S. “The U.S. The United States, locked as it is in a global rivalry with China, already seems to be making the most of the incident from a diplomatic standpoint. “Now, Students for Trump is clawing back control over those assets, according to contract documents and people familiar with the situation, raising questions about how closely Turning Point will be associated with Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. In June of that year, he became the first president to have his voice transmitted over radio.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the recent Chinese spy balloon over the United States presents security challenges for the 30-member alliance ...

"In our engagements, we are again hearing from our partners that the world expects China and the United States to manage our relationship responsibly. will reconsider a trip to China at a later date and remained open to conversations with Beijing in the interim. intelligence community was studying the balloon and that the U.S. Blinken said the U.S. He was slated to meet with his Chinese counterpart and potentially Chinese President [Xi Jinping i](https://www.cnbc.com/xi-jinping/)n Beijing. The operation resulted in an F-22 fighter jet shearing a hole in the bottom of the balloon with a sidewinder missile. officials have long complained that Chinese companies are beholden to the People's Republic of China and collect sensitive information on behalf of the People's Liberation Army. Pat Ryder said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called his Chinese counterpart on Saturday following the military mission. Chinese officials did not accept the call. Stoltenberg's remarks come as the U.S. - Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. The Chinese Communist Party has previously said that it does not engage in espionage.

US 'not the only target' of Chinese surveillance, warns US secretary of state, as FBI investigates balloon wreckage.

“It calls into question why China feels that it’s OK to violate the sovereign airspace of nations in a way that is inappropriate and unacceptable.” we’re not looking for conflict – and that’s been the case so far,” he said in an interview with the PBS network. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the US was “not looking for conflict” with China despite tensions over the balloon. They use satellites, they use cyber, and – as we’ve seen in the United States – also balloons. The Pentagon spokesperson, brigadier general Patrick Ryder, said the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service were working to catalogue the wreckage of the downed balloon and transfer it to the mainland for further examination. We’re doing so because the United States was not the only target of this broader programme which has violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents.”

The Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for “several years,” the ...

[Xi later confronted Trudeau](https://globalnews.ca/news/9281973/xi-confronts-trudeau-g20-summit/) about how it was “not appropriate” that details of those conversations had been shared with news organizations. Adam Fisher, director general of intelligence assessments with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, did say Canada’s adversaries are “very sophisticated.” Sources had told Global News the surveillance balloon spent time in Canadian airspace, but the details of when and for how long have not been made clear by Canadian authorities. Canadian pilots flying over the Prairie provinces, Ontario and Quebec were warned to be on the lookout for an “untethered balloon” on Feb. The balloon was spotted over Montana on Feb. It was eventually shot down over the U.S. The public announcement of its discovery late last week sparked outrage in both countries, and prompted U.S. The navy and coast guard are working to recover pieces of the downed balloon so they can be analyzed. It passed north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. accusations about the balloon amount to “information warfare” against Beijing. When pressed on what information the balloon was specifically trying to gather, Royal said U.S. assistant defence secretary for the Indo-Pacific, told a U.S.

The Defense Intelligence Agency had compiled an internal report, sent through classified channels in the government, on the balloon before it entered U.S. ...

(People’s Republic of China) entities linked to the P.L.A. (People’s Liberation Army) that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. instead used it to observe and collect intelligence on the device, until it took a sharp turn south to go over the continental U.S., potentially spying on the U.S. [>> Read more trending news](/news/trending/) [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-timeline-lack-urgent-action/index.html) reported. [CNN ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-timeline-lack-urgent-action/index.html)reported. The Defense Intelligence Agency had compiled an internal report, sent through classified channels in the government, on the balloon before it entered U.S. shot it down over the weekend is “inconsistent” with claims from China that it was an off-course weather balloon, the It also had solar panels to power the system, the [AP ](https://apnews.com/article/politics-beijing-china-e45c759cb00294e83989fa35970935bc?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_03&utm_content=eyebrows)reported. accusing the communist country of doing so is “information warfare,” [AP ](https://apnews.com/article/chinese-balloon-military-involvement-e45c759cb00294e83989fa35970935bc?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_01)reported.

China is believed to use balloons to evade radar detection and study military sites.

Shoots Down Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Over Atlantic](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/02/04/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down-biden-okd-downing-updates/?sh=568c9aec3935) (Forbes) [Pentagon Admits It Failed To Spot 3 Chinese Spy Balloons During Trump’s Term](https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/02/06/pentagon-admits-it-failed-to-spot-3-chinese-spy-balloons-during-trumps-term/?sh=65fbf3be7a92) (Forbes) [China Says Alleged Spy Balloon Hovering Over U.S. Is Actually A ‘Civilian Airship’ Blown Off Course](https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/02/03/china-says-alleged-spy-balloon-hovering-over-us-is-actually-a-civilian-airship-blown-off-course/?sh=3a6c5b8a6f36) (Forbes) fighter jets to [shoot it down](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/02/04/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down-biden-okd-downing-updates/?sh=568c9aec3935) after it crossed over the Carolina coast, following advice from advisors that shooting it down over land could be dangerous for people on the ground. He also told Forbes it could be an indication that Chinese President Xi Jinping—who has built up the country’s military capabilities in recent years—could be preparing for war, which he said would most likely come in the form of an invasion of Taiwan, where China last year [conducted military drills](https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/08/04/illegitimate-behavior-china-carries-out-biggest-ever-military-drills-around-taiwan/?sh=3ec10fb03c6f) including missile strikes. officials, speaking on background, told the [Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/us/politics/china-spy-balloons.html) it was actually part of a Chinese surveillance program used to evade detection by radar. [went undetected](https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/02/06/pentagon-admits-it-failed-to-spot-3-chinese-spy-balloons-during-trumps-term/?sh=65fbf3be7a92) during the Trump Administration, according to Pentagon officials, although former President Donald Trump denied it, telling [Fox News Digital](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-top-national-security-officials-refute-claim-chinese-spy-balloons-transited-us-under-last-admin) it “would never have happened” because Beijing “respected us greatly” during his presidency. [up-close images](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/07/politics/spy-balloon-navy-photos/index.html) of the deflated balloon that had been roughly the size of three buses—and opening an investigation into the contents of the balloon that renewed ongoing tensions between Washington D.C. Rather than being labeled as foreign surveillance balloons, however, they were classified as [unidentified aerial phenomena](https://www.space.com/chinese-spy-balloons-classified-ufos-us-military), the new classification for UFOs. will explore “broader efforts to expose and address” China’s surveillance operations that could pose a national security threat to the U.S. officials, the or its allies, after finding multiple antennas on the balloon. officials who spoke to the New York Times.

Resuming diplomacy isn't a sign of weakness. It's critical to ensure future spats between the US and China don't escalate dangerously.

Nevertheless, this mishap shouldn’t derail America’s broader goals in its relationship with China. In particular, Secretary of State Antony Blinken — who canceled a planned trip to Beijing over the incident — needs to reschedule his visit and get back to work. A full accounting of the mysterious airship — its technology, its mission, what intelligence it may have gleaned — should be undertaken quickly and transparently.

China's surveillance balloons have flown over more than 40 countries and are directed by the Chinese military, the State Department said.

The U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that China’s spy balloon program is part of a global surveillance effort designed to collect information on the military capabilities of countries around the world. The research suggested China was the foreign power, U.S. [observed](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/us/politics/china-spy-balloon-trump-administration.html) during the Trump administration were initially classified as unidentified aerial phenomena, U.S. Officials say they are confident that they prevented the balloon from collecting any sensitive data from U.S. “We will pair that with what we learn from the balloon — what we learn from the balloon itself — with what we’ve gleaned based on our careful observation of the system when it was in our airspace, as the president directed his team to do.” and other agencies are examining the debris that the U.S. [pulled from the shallow waters](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down.html) off the South Carolina coast. Most notably, the U.S. And the Biden administration has begun a campaign to inform countries around the world of the extent of China’s spy balloon program and its violations of sovereignty, in the hope that other nations will push back against Chinese espionage activities. Its visible equipment, which included antennas, “was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons,” the State Department said — a rebuttal to the Chinese government’s assertion that the balloon was a civilian meteorological machine that had strayed off course. officials over the ties between some civilian-run enterprises in China and the country’s military, in what American officials call “

President Joe Biden's administration said that China's People's Liberation Army is most likely responsible for the spy program targeting more than 40 ...

(People’s Republic of China) entities linked to the P.L.A. (People’s Liberation Army) that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. instead used it to observe and collect intelligence on the device, until it took a sharp turn south to go over the continental U.S., potentially spying on the U.S. [>> Read more trending news](/news/trending/) [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-timeline-lack-urgent-action/index.html) reported. [CNN ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-timeline-lack-urgent-action/index.html)reported. The Defense Intelligence Agency had compiled an internal report, sent through classified channels in the government, on the balloon before it entered U.S. shot it down over the weekend is “inconsistent” with claims from China that it was an off-course weather balloon, the It also had solar panels to power the system, the [AP ](https://apnews.com/article/politics-beijing-china-e45c759cb00294e83989fa35970935bc?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_03&utm_content=eyebrows)reported. accusing the communist country of doing so is “information warfare,” [AP ](https://apnews.com/article/chinese-balloon-military-involvement-e45c759cb00294e83989fa35970935bc?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_01)reported.

The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down had carried multiple devices to intercept sensitive communications, according to the State Department.

“We know that they were looking to surveil strategic sites, to include some of our strategic bases in the continental United States.” Ryder also said that by allowing the balloon to cross over numerous sensitive U.S. The materials were being transported from the scene to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for examination. The balloon's spyware payload, the size of a regional jetliner, had "multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications," according to the spokesperson's statement. The Pentagon waited until the balloon passed over land to shoot it down off the coast of South Carolina Saturday, seeking to avoid deaths and property damage. The Chinese government operates a fleet of such spy balloons, whose activities are directed by the Chinese Army.

The Biden administration has determined that the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that traversed the United States last week was operating with ...

The officials added that understanding the components of the balloon is vital intelligence and could be “important pieces of evidence for future criminal charges that could be brought.” “We could track the exact path of the balloon and ensure no activities or sensitive unencrypted comms would be conducted in its vicinity,” a senior administration official said this week. By late Sunday – the day after the balloon was shot down – agents had arrived at the scene, and the first pieces of recovered evidence arrived at the FBI lab in Quantico on Monday. The source declined to provide detail on what specific parts of the balloon contained English writing. That changed when the balloon began drifting over the lower 48 states, but while it was over Alaska, officials determined it was not over critical infrastructure. In the classified congressional briefings, the administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China or even a military conflict. When the balloon was spotted, it was not determined to have “hostile intent,” said Lt. The Biden officials told Congress that it’s still unclear what the motivation was for the flight of the balloon across the US, which prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone his trip to China. The idea Xi was unaware of the balloon “is the working theory and an ongoing intelligence gap,” a source briefed on the matter later told CNN. “I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies, acted skillfully and with care. “The Pentagon was telling us they were able to mitigate in real-time as this was taking place and I believe that’s accurate,” Rep. “High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations.”

The alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US was capable of collecting communications signals and was part of a broader People's Liberation Army ...

Antennas likely capable of listening in on Americans' communications and pinpoint the location of those conversing on the ground.

[operation to salvage](https://time.com/6253414/chinese-balloon-recovery-clues/) remnants of the balloon that U.S. We Talked to Their Mom [It Could Be Harder to Find a Job and Get a Pay Raise](https://time.com/6253699/federal-reserve-inflation-interest-rates-workers/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20230202)if the Fed Gets Its Way [Thousands of Buildings Collapsed in Turkey](https://time.com/6254024/turkey-syria-earthquake-building-2023/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20230202). [fallout has been considerable](https://time.com/6253778/chinese-balloon-biden-state-of-the-union-2023/), widening the fissures between Washington and Beijing. “And we are learning more as we exploit the contents of the balloon and the payload.” [spy balloon](https://time.com/6252673/chinese-spy-balloon-satellite/) that U.S. fighter jets [shot down](https://time.com/6253010/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down/) this weekend was likely capable of listening in on Americans’ communications and pinpointing the location of those conversing on the ground, according to the U.S. balloon and its alleged spying apparatus, which was roughly the size of a jetliner, drifted across the middle of the country for four days before it was brought down. “I don’t want a damn balloon going over the United States when we could have taken it down over the Aleutian Islands,” said Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana. China conducted surveillance missions over “more than 40 countries across five continents,” the Biden Administration alleged Thursday in the new disclosure that shed light on the size and scope of suspected espionage effort that was carried out over several years. “It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications,” the official said. As the massive white balloon traversed the continental U.S.

Amid all the suspicion and intrigue that's been swirling around that Chinese spy balloon are questions related specifically to the time it was flying in ...

"Through this collaboration, Canada and the U.S. Well, I would think we wouldn't want them to know that." President Joe Biden said that he gave the order to shoot down the balloon on Feb. But he says governments have been reluctant to do so. 1, and it was eventually shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. and NORAD," she said in an email. military aircraft need not seek permission every time they need to fly over each other's territory. "I launched NORAD fighters, Canadian CF-18s, and we were not able to corroborate any additional balloon." They want to know how we're responding. It's not one or the other." airspace," he said. 28 as it flew over Alaska, according to U.S.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is combing over a variety of intelligence — debris, reconnaissance plane photos and old observations — to learn what the ...

[working to gather debris](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down.html) of the balloon since Sunday for America’s own intelligence-gathering purposes, Pentagon and F.B.I. Blinken said the entry of the balloon was a “clear violation of U.S. But most of the electronics were in the balloon payload, carried underneath. But the balloon ordeal was a big enough deal for the State Department to cancel Mr. Some policymakers and lawmakers in Washington have been arguing for years that the U.S. In the wake of the discovery of the balloon, Secretary of State Antony J. [ earthquake in Turkey ](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/09/world/turkey-syria-earthquake)that killed more than 20,000. And while reconnaissance satellites are often focused on imagery, the balloons appear to be mostly about collecting communications. The balloon had a signals intelligence array — fancy spy speak for an antenna that can locate communications devices and listen into them. This is the big question. There was at least one additional visit during the Biden administration. WASHINGTON — The U.S.

Tensions flared during a Senate hearing on the Chinese spy balloon as lawmakers in both parties expressed anger over the handling of the incursion.

VanHerck’s decisions “were in the best interest of the United States and our citizens, as were the decisions of our senior leadership.” The rest of the material is located at the bottom of the ocean and is still in the process of being recovered. “In determining potential options, the risk of Chinese intelligence collection was deemed to be low to moderate while the rest to U.S. “I think that the American public deserve more than they have seen in terms of transparency. citizens or aviation traffic,” and that it did not have the ability to “conduct significant intelligence collection,” Sims said. "What happened if it came down and hit a school in a rural area? The military detected the Chinese balloon on radar as it approached Alaska, and there was a decision that the balloon was “not a threat to U.S. toward Montana and nearby states, raising the potential threat and prompting President Joe Biden to ask for military options, the general said. In some cases, the flights were determined to be Chinese balloons after the fact, according to the Pentagon. If you’re going to have Russia coming at you, if you’re going to have China coming at you, we know exactly how they come.” “Because quite frankly I’ll just tell you, I don’t want a damn balloon going across the United States.” At the hearing, Sen.