OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
United States military officials have finally admitted that one of the Chinese spy balloons that infiltrated U.S. air space earlier this year successfully gathered critical intelligence on military assets.
“China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time, the three officials said. The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images, the officials said,” CNBC reported.
“The three officials said China could have gathered much more intelligence from sensitive sites if not for the administration’s efforts to move around potential targets and obscure the balloon’s ability to pick up their electronic signals by stopping them from broadcasting or emitting signals,” the outlet added.
The Defense Department directed NBC News to comments from February, in which senior officials said the balloon had “limited additive value” for intelligence collection by the Chinese government “over and above what [China] is likely able to collect through things like satellites in low earth orbit.”
Turns out, that was not true despite China claiming the balloon was an unmanned civilian airship that accidentally strayed off course.
After the balloon was shot down in February, Biden administration officials said it was capable of collecting signals intelligence.
More from CNBC:
The balloon had a self-destruct mechanism that could have been activated remotely by China, but the officials said it’s not clear if that didn’t happen because the mechanism malfunctioned or because China decided not to trigger it.
The balloon first entered U.S. airspace over Alaska on Jan. 28, according to the Biden administration, which said it was tracking it as it moved. Within the next four days, the balloon was flying over Montana — specifically Malmstrom Air Force Base, where the U.S. stores some of its nuclear assets.
On Feb. 2, NBC News was first to report the Chinese spy balloon was flying over the U.S. and that President Biden had considered shooting it down, prompting the administration to publicly confirm that and disclose it had been monitoring the balloon for days. Once the balloon’s existence became public, China increased its speed, officials said, in attempt to get it out of U.S. airspace as quickly as possible.
The U.S. shot down the balloon on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina, and officials are still analyzing the debris that was retrieved.
“U.S. 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,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a written statement after the balloon was downed.
The Chinese spy balloon was a test on America to collect data and intelligence. pic.twitter.com/w92AYWamuf
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) April 3, 2023
Back in February, the U.S. Navy shared images of the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot from the sky by the military.
The photos show debris from the balloon being brought onto a boat which is then going to be taken to an FBI facility for assessment.
CNN reported: “Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told reporters that the balloon was roughly 200 feet tall and carried a payload weighing more than a couple of thousand pounds. US officials had been tracking the balloon for several days by the time it appeared in the skies over Montana. President Joe Biden said over the weekend that he’d directed the US military to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was safe to do so, but officials said it posed a risk to civilians and property on the ground.”
“[F]rom a safety standpoint, picture yourself with large debris weighing hundreds if not thousands of pounds falling out of the sky. That’s really what we’re kind of talking about,” the general said. “So glass off of solar panels, potentially hazardous material, such as material that is required for a batteries to operate in such an environment as this and even the potential for explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon that could have been present.”
“[T]his gave us the opportunity to assess what they were actually doing, what kind of capabilities existed on the balloon, what kind of transmission capabilities existed, and I think you’ll see in the future that that time frame was well worth its value to collect over,” he said.
“US officials also determined that the balloon did not pose a significant risk in its ability to gather intelligence,” the report said.
“A senior defense official said last week that the balloon had ‘limited additive value’ from an intelligence collection perspective. Nevertheless, VanHerck said Monday that he and the commander of US Strategic Command took “maximum precaution” to prevent China’s ability to collect intelligence,” it said.
US NAVY RECOVERS CHINESE SPY BALLOON. pic.twitter.com/SnqBzZwsvU
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 8, 2023
The Pentagon released these photos of the Navy retrieving the spy balloon, claiming ‘mission accomplished!”
It’s just the balloon. 😂 Where is the rest of it? pic.twitter.com/Yan5rbPdgV
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) February 7, 2023
Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, revealed some chilling details on Monday about the Chinese spy balloon.
During a call with reporters, he revealed that the balloon carried explosives to destroy itself, was 200 feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds, and its payload was the size of a jetliner.
“Because the president decided they wouldn’t shoot it down until he could do so safely, and that meant over water, that afforded us a terrific opportunity to gain a better understanding, to study the capabilities of this balloon,” he told reporters on a call.
“His description followed a briefing by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who defended President Joe Biden’s decision to wait and shoot down the Chinese craft until it was over South Carolina’s coastline on Saturday,” the Daily Mail reported. “Biden ordered the balloon shot down Wednesday, but the U.S. military held off until Saturday, with the Air Force sending an F-22 fighter jet armed with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to do the job.”
