CHINESE BALLOON BLOWN UP

News Summary

  • The official said that the Trump balloon transits only became known after Trump left office and that intelligence agencies would offer briefings to former officials from the last administration on China’s global surveillance programs.Biden issued the shootdown order but had wanted it to happen earlier, on Wednesday.
  • defense and military officials said the balloon entered the U.S. air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday.
  • They said the military concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.
  • “They went and looked at our nuclear weapon sites and the missile defense sites throughout the country.”On Thursday the Pentagon publicly exposed the balloon, and after that, “China maneuvered the balloon to leave the U.S.,” Schumer told reporters Sunday.
  • The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the plan by name and requested anonymity.Defense officials who briefed reporters have said the U.S. was able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the country.
  • The Air Force said it monitored the object’s flight path until it left the country and at no time did it pose a national security risk.In neighboring Venezuela, people on social media reported seeing a balloon, but the government did not confirm its presence.
WASHINGTON (AP) Republican lawmakers on Sunday accused China of deliberately surveilling sensitive U.S. military sites with a suspected spy balloon and said the Biden administration had given Beijing [+5427 chars]