U.S. citizens watched for days as the Chinese balloon flew across the country above their heads. Seven days in a row, the United States heard that a balloon had escaped across American airspace and waited for the military to shoot it down. On its last diagonal journey through the southeast of the continental United States, Virginia-based military aircraft pursued the balloon. Navy ships waited off the coast of South Carolina to collect debris from the balloon’s scheduled takedown while it was still in U.S. seas and had cleared the coastline. As the public became aware of the military’s operations, questions arose as to why the military did not bring down the balloon when it entered U.S. seas on the Pacific side of the country.
The Biden administration said that it waited until the balloon was over the ocean before shooting it in order to be “safe” and prevent fallout from causing damage or harm.
Ignoring the fact that their unannounced aircraft was flying above military sites in the continental United States, China stated that the “weather” balloon was purely employed for meteorological research and drifted into U.S. airspace by mistake, according to NPR. China’s foreign ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest” over the United States’”use of force to attack a civilian unmanned airship” calling the shooting an “obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice”.
The presence of the balloon over the United States was enough unsettling for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to cancel his trip to Beijing.
As the fragments of the balloon dropped into the ocean and were rescued by the Navy, it was anticipated that answers would emerge, which they did. The State Department announced on Thursday that the China spy balloon, which was 200 feet tall and carried a payload the size of a commercial jetliner, was equipped to intercept communications signals. This cemented the moniker “Chinese Spy Balloon,” as it was clearly not a weather balloon and was instead launched to collect data.
The administration originally declined to deny that the aircraft was an unidentified flying object in response to queries about why President Joe Biden would allow such an aircraft to go across the whole country before dealing with it. Questions escalated when other balloons were spotted and shot down over Alaska, Canada, and the mainland United States.
Now we know why a balloon was able to effortlessly enter U.S. airspace on the west coast…
It was permitted.
GWP said that US Intelligence spotted the spy balloon take off near China’s southern coast and monitored it for over a week before it reached US territory, as reported by CBS News on Tuesday night.
“U.S. intelligence watched the Chinese spy balloon as it lifted off near China’s south coast, meaning the U.S. military had been tracking it for nearly a week before it entered U.S. airspace. Longer than originally know,” CBS News reported. “What they saw was this balloon heading east from China towards Guam and Hawaii, but then it took a sharp northward turn – a beeline towards Alaska!” CBS reported.
Source: CBS News
BREAKING: CBS News has learned that U.S. intelligence watched the Chinese spy balloon as it lifted off near China's south coast, meaning the U.S. military had been tracking it for nearly a week before it entered U.S. airspace. pic.twitter.com/oaR5yZIRwm
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) February 15, 2023
Two Saturdays ago, the high-altitude surveillance balloon was sighted above the Aleutian Islands. This implies that a Chinese surveillance balloon flew for seven days in US skies with Joe Biden’s complete agreement. Biden originally declined to fire down the balloon, permitting it to fly above military outposts and nuclear silos.
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
The balloon was equipped with antennas and solar panels large enough to produce power to operate “multiple active intelligence collection sensors,” the NY Times reported. the pieces of this equipment retrieved from the downed balloons showed that parts were manufactured by at least one U.S. company. The name of that company has not been released, but GWP reported that the company (unidentified) that constructed the spy balloon has direct ties to the People’s Liberation Army. CONTINUE READING…