Balloon Debris Recovery...NO word on ANY discovery?? What's taking so long??

[Alexander Of Assyria]

https://nypost.com/2023/02/05/navy-divers-recovering-chinese-balloon-debris/

Note the graphic…spy balloons rendered essentially obsolete…cause of spy satellites.

……..

Navy divers are now performing the “fairly easy” task of recovering the remnants of the Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic, as the entire Senate is set to be briefed on China next week.

The balloon was shot down by a F22 fighter jet over Myrtle Beach, SC, and landed in just 47 feet of water, which should make its recovery relatively easy, US officials said.

Cops in Horry County, where the balloon was shot down near, warned residents that “members of the US Military are coordinating to collect debris; however, fragments may make it to the coastline.”

……..

Where’s the camera and hard drive info? Not saying it’s not a spy satellite…trust but verify citizens! Especially your trillion dollar a year military!

Prove it’s a spy balloon…show America the beef!

[Walleye]

1. I really don't expect sensitive information to be published on the front page of the paper

Maybe we should let our intelligence experts handle this.

[2naSalit]

26. +1

[mucifer]

2. I don't think you are being realistic

[ornotna]

3. Give it a minute

It’s not like they’re going to tell us anything this quickly.

[Emile]

4. Egads, give them a week or two.

[Javaman]

5. An object falling from that height

Hits the ocean at a very high rate of speed. Think of it as slamming into concrete. Then think what that would do to the object.

They probably are trying to recover hundreds if not thousands of bits and pieces that then need to be transported to a facility to be “reassembled” to then determine what it was, what it contained and if anything is recoverable.

This is not too different than when the FAA recovers and investigates a downed plane to figure out what went wrong

This will take time

[GoCubsGo]

32. Yes, and the debris field is seven square miles.

It was already in pieces before it hit the water, too. Which has been rough and choppy for the past few days.

[Eyeball_Kid]

39. The balloon skin isn't important, IMO. It's the hardware.

And the USIAs are likely in possession of the hardware by now. Further, the data that the device sent to the Chinese receiving stations is ALMOST CERTAINLY the stuff that's being collected routinely by the NSA-- the agency that collects ALL electronic radio communications, from all frequencies, in the entire western hemisphere.

This is why, IMO, the balloon controversy is a nothing burger. All of the data that was transmitted while over US territory has already been collected and decoded. In fact, it's likely to the US' advantage if the balloon WERE a spy device because we'd already know what kinds of information China wants from its balloon, which would be of enormous strategic value.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Why do you care?

[luv2fly]

7. Clearly it's Merrick Garland's fault n/t

[we can do it]

10. 😹

[Shellback Squid]

8. seriously?

[Samrob]

9. Unless you are in a position to do something about what is found, it's really none of business.

All we will do is spread theories and be the fodder for the news cycle. Leave it to the pros.

[yardwork]

15. I read your post as leave it to the pros to spread theories and be news cycle fodder...

Since that's what they do!

[Alexander Of Assyria]

29. Leave the news cycle to the pros? That would shut down half the internet that isnt porn!

[lamp_shade]

11. Forcrissake hold your horses.

[gab13by13]

12. I couldn't care less.

[malaise]

14. Same here

Spy versus Spy!

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Anything to distract from Friday's jobs report

517,000 new jobs, UE at 3.4%, wages up. About 10 times as important of a story as a balloon.

[yardwork]

16. But the balloon, the balloon!!!

[Eyeball_Kid]

40. It's a shiny object. A big nothing. Any intelligence data has already been collected. n/t

[malaise]

17. THIS

I hope Biden treats it the way the SLobfather treated Covid in his 2020 SOU speech

[Renew Deal]

19. Are you saying that the Chinese are part of a conspiracy to distract from the jobs report?

[Johnny2X2X]

21. No

I'm saying Republicans and their friendly media turned a silly balloon into a giant story in order to distract from the best economic news we've had in quite some time. It was a balloon, flown over the US, happened several times before apparently. Could very easily have just been a tiny story that no one really covered, but the GOP seized on it because they didn't want the jobs report to be the biggest story of the weekend.

[Renew Deal]

23. That might be true

Though it is a big story. The fact that they thought they could do that and the decision on shooting it down makes for a big story.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

28. Yep...remember it began with some kid spotting it...then it went into Canada, then back here...

Then the gift wrapped propaganda balloon enters into RW media airspace and becomes airship history in America!

Splashdown far from prying eyes!

[Alexander Of Assyria]

27. Wrong! 100x more jobs report important to tens of millions of real people!

It is just made to appear that way as less important so easily, by a drifting not sure what it is balloon.

[ornotna]

31. That's a crowded house you're sporting on your shoulders

Tens of millions you say. 🫣

[Renew Deal]

18. It's unlikely that it had a "hard drive" full of intel.

Most likely anything collected was sent back via satellite. If they were smart they destroyed anything containing evidence long before it was shot down.

[secondwind]

20. Patience is a virtue.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

22. Defender of all things China?

[Scrivener7]

24. Lol.

[Effete Snob]

25. This OP is some kind of performance art, yes?

I don’t expect the pentagon to be announcing what they have or have not figured out about his piece of equipment, regardless of how curious you and the Chinese might be to know that.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

30. On the contrary, I expect them to release info. simply confirming they found...something??

Buehler? Buehler?

Sometimes listen to silence as much as noise is ok.

[onenote]

36. Why do you expect that? What other intelligence and military info do you "expect" to be made public

[Effete Snob]

37. I don't expect them to tip off the Chinese about anything

Including whether they have recovered anything and what that anything might be.

I don't know what country you may have grown up in, but the US typically does not share intelligence with hostile nations.

[Justice matters.]

44. Well, they can always... mmm... LIE

Can't they? 'member?

Yellow cake, anyone??

[Effete Snob]

48. Yeah, ummm, don't go out there to find out...

[Omnipresent]

33. I don't suppose, they have the technology...

To attach parachutes to the cargo, so that any sensitive equipment, doesn’t just go crashing into the ocean, like a bug into the windshield of a car?

It would make it much easier to inspect, if it’s not in a million pieces.

[BannonsLiver]

34. Sort of bizarre you're so pressed about it.

[Torchlight]

35. Sounds serious.

Good luck.

[maxrandb]

38. Ummm, because this is not a reality TV show?

[ForgedCrank]

41. Probably the

only things we will be able to determine are what sensors were on board.
It is likely that whatever information this vehicle was collecting, the data was transmitted live to an orbiting satellite and not stored on board. When people launch balloons (for whatever purpose), they are fully aware that they will most likely never recover the device when it is finished doing it's work, and there is a high probability (if it's a spy vehicle) that the adversary you are spying on will recover it. You won't leave behind any valuable tech.

So at best, we will be able to determine what it was sniffing for, be that photos and audio, or just simply air pressure, temperature, etc. That will tell us what it was being used for, but not much else.

[Hotler]

42. Thank goodness they didn't shoot that down over the Northwest. The debris could have landed on

one of the Bundy clan free grazing cattle and killed it. That would have started a civil war for sure.

[ananda]

43. LOL

This must be the age of instant gratification.

Still, I think two years is excessive wrt Trump and
allies for J6.

[sarisataka]

45. Lot's of doubts about

The integrity of the Biden administration... interesting.

the entire Senate is set to be briefed on China next week.

Why do you expect the media to have all of the details before the Senate? Seems that would make the scheduled briefing superfluous.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

46. Certain a balloon, hope, it's not the only topic!

…briefed on China….gonna take a while, lots to dispense…

[lees1975]

47. Frankly, I don't really care.

I have every confidence that our military intelligence handled this exactly the way they should, they knew what signals this thing was sending and picking up, disabled it and then, when it wasn't a danger to anyone, shot it down.

The President went to his military advisors instead of taking an "I know it all " position and asked them what to do and they told him.

I don't care about anything else.