Dude, what are we doing?
Seriously, this balloon flew clean over our country, it was using an American internet service provider to send high-bandwidth bundles of data back to China, and we just continued to let it do it's thing as it slowly floated from Alaska, over Montana, and then all the way to the Carolinas.
We just watched it potentially spy on us like it was no big deal!
Look at that:
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. this year used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment.
The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.
Bro, like are we on China's side or something? This is wrong on so many levels, yet our government will play it off as if we won this battle because we ended up collecting information from them and that's why it's okay that they used a U.S. internet connection.
The previously unreported U.S. effort to monitor the balloon's communications could be one reason Biden administration officials have insisted that they got more intelligence out of the device than it got as it flew over the U.S.
Senior administration officials have said the U.S. was able to protect sensitive sites on the ground because they closely tracked the balloon's projected flight path. The U.S. military moved or obscured sensitive equipment so the balloon could not collect images or video while it was overhead …
After the balloon was shot down on Feb. 4, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, told reporters that the U.S. military and intelligence community had taken exhaustive steps to protect against the balloon's ability to collect intelligence.
"We took maximum precaution to prevent any intel collection," VanHerck said at a briefing. "So that we could take maximum protective measures while the balloon transited across the United States."
You know how else you could've prevented intel collection?
You could've shot it down!
But no, we waited like a bunch of sissies until it was over the Atlantic and had already seen a good third of our country.
So dumb.
After the balloon was shot down, a senior State Department official said that it was used by China for surveillance and that it was loaded with equipment able to collect signals intelligence.
The balloon had multiple antennas, including an array most likely able to collect and geolocate communications, the official said. It was also powered by enormous solar panels that generated enough power to operate intelligence collection sensors, the official said.
Defense and intelligence officials have said the U.S. assessment is that the balloon was not able to transmit intelligence back to China while it was over the U.S.
So they couldn't transmit intel back to China but they were connected to the internet using a U.S. provider — one NBC News refuses to name — and they were able to send high-bandwidth data back to China.
Yeah, I'm sure they only sent weather data back to China, that's it.
This story really makes me wonder if we're on the side of the Chinese or if they're simply beating us at what used to be our own game.
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