U.S. Tracking High-Altitude Surveillance Balloon

[IceWizard]

U.S. Tracking High-Altitude Surveillance Balloon




An intelligence-gathering balloon, most certainly launched by the People's Republic of China,
is currently floating above the United States, the Defense Department announced Thursday evening.

"The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon
that is over the continental United States right now," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder
said during an impromptu briefing Thursday evening.
"The U.S. government, to include NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely."








Ryder said the balloon is well above commercial air traffic and doesn't pose a threat to civil aviation.
He also said this isn't the first time such a balloon has been seen over the United States.

After the balloon was detected, Ryder said, the U.S. government "acted immediately" to protect
against the collection of sensitive information, though he didn't detail what measures were taken.

A senior defense official who participated in the briefing on background only said the U.S. intelligence
community has "very high confidence" the balloon belongs to the People's Republic of China, and that
the United States has engaged with Chinese officials "with urgency, through multiple channels"
regarding the presence of the balloon.

"We have communicated to them the seriousness with which we take this issue," the official said.
"We have made clear we will do whatever is necessary to protect our people and our homeland."

Right now, the official said, following recommendations of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Army Gen. Mark A. Milley and Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command
and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the U.S. position is to allow the balloon to
continue to float above the United States, rather than attempt to shoot it down.

The official said the risk of using kinetic force to take the balloon out of the sky might put civilian
communities at risk, and that the threat the balloon poses now to both safety and U.S. intelligence
doesn't justify such an action.

"Currently, we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collective collection
perspective," the official said. "But we are taking steps, nevertheless, to protect against foreign
intelligence collection of sensitive information."

The official said this is not the first time such a balloon has been seen above the United States,
but did say this time the balloon appears to be acting differently than what has been seen in the past.

"It's happened a handful of other times over the past few years, to include before this administration,"
the official said. "It is appearing to hang out for a longer period of time, this time around, [and is]
more persistent than in previous instances. That would be one distinguishing factor."

While the senior defense official would not say how large the balloon is, the official did say its size
did figure into the calculation to not use kinetic force to take it out of the sky.

"We did assess that it was large enough to cause damage from the debris field if we downed it over
an area," the official said. "I can't really go into the dimension — but there have been reports of pilots
seeing this thing, even though it's pretty high up in the sky. So ... it's sizable."

As early as yesterday, the official said, the balloon was seen over Montana.

[folken]

Apparently there is another one flying over Latin America somewhere.

I can't understand why - in this age- they would use a balloon for surveillance ??

[happyvibe]

Finally, they shot the one over the US down.

[IceWizard]

The U.S. has downed a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina

Updated February 4, 2023


The U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on
Saturday afternoon, the Pentagon said.

"On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as
soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon's
path," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Austin said military commanders "had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an
undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its
surveillance payload."

Speaking on Saturday, President Biden told reporters he gave the order on Wednesday. U.S. officials
"said to me, 'Let's wait 'til the safest place to do it,' " he said. "They successfully took it down, and
I want to compliment our aviators who did it," Biden added.

The downing came shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration said it had "paused departures
from and arrivals to" three East Coast airports — in Wilmington, N.C., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and
Charleston, S.C. — "to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort." Flights
through these airports resumed shortly after 3 p.m.

The Associated Press reported that an operation was underway to recover debris from the
Atlantic Ocean.

U.S. and Chinese officials have given conflicting information on the balloon's purpose.

The Chinese government said the balloon is strictly used for meteorological research and accidentally
went adrift into U.S. airspace.

But the Pentagon said the balloon was being used for surveillance. Its presence already led Secretary
of State Antony Blinken on Friday to postpone a historic trip to Beijing, as tensions continue to rise
between the two countries over national security.

U.S. officials earlier this week decided against shooting down the balloon after the Biden administration
said it did not pose a national security threat. The Pentagon shared reports on Friday of a second balloon,
belonging to China, that could be seen floating over Latin America.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, the president commented on the balloon, saying,
"We're going to take care of it."

The balloon quickly became an internet celebrity as meteorologists, storm chasers and others shared
sightings on social media as it continued on its path across the U.S.

Others criticized the Biden administration for not taking quicker actions to stop it.

"The China balloon flying over the U.S. is a direct assault on our national sovereignty,"
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted on Friday. "Biden's refusal to stop it is a dereliction of duty.
From flying balloons to open borders, Biden has no regard for our national security and sovereignty."

After its downing on Saturday, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said it "should have
been shot down before it crossed the continental United States, not after. We still don't know
what information was collected and where it was sent," he said. "This was a dereliction of
Biden's duty, and let's hope the American people don't pay a price."

Austin praised Biden's decision to shoot down the balloon. The Canadian government assisted
in the "tracking and analysis of the balloon," according to Austin.

"Today's deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security
team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding
effectively to the PRC's unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," he said in the statement.

On Saturday, people shared sightings of the balloon on social media.

Earlier, in South Carolina, the York County Sheriff's Office tweeted that the balloon was more
than 60,000 feet in the air and urged people not to take matters into their own hands.

"Don't try to shoot it!!" the office tweeted. "Your rifle rounds WILL NOT reach it. Be responsible.
What goes up will come down, including your bullets."



Jenna McLaughlin contributed reporting.

[German23]

This literally flew over my house.. Probably 50 miles or so...Was able to get a good view of it. Just seeing it raised my blood pressue that our Gov't let it float across the county before taking it down...It was amusing that the local Sheriff felt the need to tell people to not take matters in their own hands and try to shoot it down filling over 60,000 feet high. ?

[Charon]

Well Biden shows us daily whom his friends are. Not the US.

[German23]

Well Biden shows us daily whom his friends are. Not the US.

so true.... I can't recall a time were day after day the amount of bad news just continuously keeps coming and nothing is done about it.

[Charon]

I am in agreement with you. And i am up there in age. I do quite a few prayer ministeries. But the amount of people requesting prayer is never ending now. I have spent the entire day praying with depressed and dying people.

And i spent 3 1/2 yrs doing covid forums. Horrifically sad.

And if I hear something political, it gets worse. The world has gone mad. Compassion rarely exists. The violence in NY is beyond belief.

I pray the Lord is granting you safety and peace and health.