A Chinese balloon exposes a massive vulnerability

[rangerrebew]

A Chinese balloon exposes a massive vulnerability
Raises the question: Are US air defenses useless? – but the Pentagon is surprisingly sanguine
By STEPHEN BRYEN AND SHOSHANA BRYEN
FEBRUARY 4, 2023
 
A Chinese balloon flies above Billings, Montana, on February 1, 2023. Photo: Chase Doak / States Newsroom
On February 2, a high-altitude Chinese balloon assumed to be loaded with sensitive surveillance gear traveled over Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States. It turns out to have been one of several over time – and the Pentagon watched it travel over Montana, home of one the US military’s land-based, nuclear-tipped Minuteman III missile fields.

Are you concerned? The Pentagon is surprisingly sanguine.

The Pentagon has confirmed that the balloon is Chinese, and that China has asked for “calm” about the incident. Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder said, “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years.… We acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”

https://asiatimes.com/2023/02/a-chinese-balloon-exposes-a-massive-vulnerability/

[rangerrebew]

  “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years.… We acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
 

How do they know what sensitive information the Chinese are after unless they have been in oontact
with China, and told them exactly where they can't go,which is giving them valuable information.

[Hoodat]

The vulnerability is not with our defense capability.  The vulnerability is with our defense leadership.

[mountaineer]

Tommy Pigott
@TommyPigott
So according to Bloomberg, Biden’s “plan” was cover up that they knew the CCP balloon was coming and hope no one noticed it as it flew over the country, all so it wouldn’t affect Blinken’s meeting with Chinese officials.
Seriously. That was their plan.

Bloomberg story:

From China to Big Sky: The Balloon That Unnerved the White House
By Peter Martin, Jenny Leonard and Jennifer Jacobs
February 3, 2023 at 9:04 PM EST
 * The mysterious white object entered US airspace on Jan. 28
 * Its existence derailed a top US-China meeting in Beijing

Star gazing is nothing unusual in Montana, where skies go on forever. But as Chase Doak left work on a Wednesday and looked up on a cold winter day he saw a mysterious round white object that was clearly neither the moon or a star.

He began to film something that could come straight out of a movie where science fiction meets the Wild West. Within 48 hours the strange thing that went on to confound the residents of Billings was revealed to be a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon. ...

As it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday. But with such a high-profile trip at stake, keeping it on the down-low was key.

By the time the thing became visible in Montana, President Joe Biden had already been briefed and the White House was scrambling to decide whether to blast it from the sky.  ...

As the balloon continued to hover over the Big Sky state on Wednesday, Biden huddled with his national security team to receive a detailed briefing on the balloon. The president argued for shooting the object down, but was urged against doing so by his most senior military advisors.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley insisted that such a move would put civilians at risk.

The president ultimately decided to let the balloon continue on its way as the US sought answers from the Chinese embassy in Washington, but they struggled to obtain satisfactory responses. US officials said they were baffled by China, which itself appeared to be caught off-guard by the bizarre incident. ...

Administration officials are privately dismissive of Beijing’s explanation, as are former American intelligence analysts. The official Chinese explanation mirrored a well-worn excuse for aerial espionage.

“I do not know of anyone who constructs a meteorological balloon the size of three school buses,” said Dennis Wilder, the Central Intelligence Agency’s former deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific. ...

   

[Hoodat]

Tommy Pigott
@TommyPigott
So according to Bloomberg, Biden’s “plan” was cover up that they knew the CCP balloon was coming and hope no one noticed it as it flew over the country, all so it wouldn’t affect Blinken’s meeting with Chinese officials.
Seriously. That was their plan. 

One could not give a greater display of weakness if they tried.