China Sends Spy Balloons Over Military Sites Worldwide, U.S. Officials Say

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/us/politics/china-spy-balloons.html
https://archive.ph/lojQZ

China Sends Spy Balloons Over Military Sites Worldwide, U.S. Officials Say
The balloons have some advantages over the satellites that orbit the earth in regular patterns. They fly closer to earth and can evade radar.
By Julian E. Barnes, Edward Wong and Helene Cooper
Feb. 8, 2023, 1:13 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — American intelligence agencies have assessed that China’s spy balloon program is part of a global surveillance effort that is designed to collect information on the military capabilities of countries around the world, according to three American officials.

The balloon flights, some officials believe, are part of an effort by China to hone its ability to gather data about American military bases — in which it is most interested — as well as those of other nations in the event of a conflict or rising tensions.

The balloons have some advantages over the satellites that orbit the earth in regular patterns, U.S. officials say. They fly closer to earth and drift with wind patterns, which are not as predictable to militaries and intelligence agencies as the fixed orbits of satellites, and they can evade radar. They can also hover over areas while satellites are generally in constant motion. Simple cameras on balloons can produce clearer images than those on orbital satellites, and other surveillance equipment can pick up signals that do not reach the altitude of satellites.

American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that intelligence agencies during the Biden administration had developed a far deeper understanding of the scope and size of the Chinese spy balloon effort, discovering earlier incursions that had been classified as unknown events and tracking new operations by the Chinese spy balloons.

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[fescuerescue]

1. They probably got the idea from us

No one spies more than we do.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

2. They got the idea like everyone else...from WW1.

[Tetrachloride]

3. I hypothesize that China is far and away the most spying country

in the world.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. K&R

[crickets]

5. K&R for visibility.