The China spy balloon that Joe Biden allowed to traverse across the continental US had the capability of collecting communications signals.
A China spy balloon floated across US airspace for 7 days straight with Joe Biden’s full approval.
The high-altitude surveillance balloon was spotted over the Aleutian Islands two Saturdays ago.
Biden initially refused to shoot down the balloon and allowed it to soar over military installations and nuclear silos.
The Pentagon finally shot down the balloon as it soared over the Atlantic Ocean.
The State Department on Thursday said the China spy balloon, which was 200 feet tall and carrying a payload the size of a jet airliner, had the tools to collect communications signals.
The balloon was equipped with antennas and solar panels large enough to produce power to operate “multiple active intelligence collection sensors,” the NY Times reported.
The company (unidentified) that constructed the spy balloon has direct ties to the People’s Liberation Army.
“The United States will also explore taking action against P.R.C. entities linked to the P.L.A. that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. airspace,” the State Department said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. “We will also look at broader efforts to expose and address the P.R.C.’s larger surveillance activities that pose a threat to our national security, and to our allies and partners.”
The New York Times reported:
The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military over the Atlantic Ocean was capable of collecting communications signals and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons directed by the Chinese military that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents, the State Department said Thursday.
The United States used high resolution imagery from U-2 flybys to determine the balloon’s capabilities, the department said in a written announcement, adding that the balloon’s equipment “was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons.”
The agency said the balloon had multiple antennas in an array that was “likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications.” Solar panels on the machine were large enough to produce power to operate “multiple active intelligence collection sensors,” the department said.
The agency also said the U.S. government was “confident” that the company that made the balloon had direct commercial ties with the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military, citing an official procurement portal for the army. The department did not name the company.