Chinese Spy Balloon

[ClydeR]

Why didn't we shoot it down over Alaska then? If it's what they say it was, why did we do nothing for over a week?

We were learning stuff from the balloon before our unpatriotic media alerted the Chinese that we were aware of it. Trump never shot down Chinese balloons that came into the country multiple times while he was President. He recognized the value of studying the balloons. After the Chinese learned we were aware of it, there was no longer any point in letting it appear to pass unnoticed, while we studied it and fed it false info.

Why am I the only person in this forum who understands what was really going on? Y'all need to watch more spy movies.

Long before the shoot down, U.S. officials took steps to protect against the balloon's collection of sensitive information, mitigating its intelligence value to the Chinese. The senior defense official said the recovery of the balloon will enable U.S. analysts to examine sensitive Chinese equipment. "I would also note that while we took all necessary steps to protect against the PRC surveillance balloon's collection of sensitive information, the surveillance balloon's overflight of U.S. territory was of intelligence value to us," the official said. "I can't go into more detail, but we were able to study and scrutinize the balloon and its equipment, which has been valuable."

The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.

More...

My favorite excuse so far is "Well, it happened during the Trump administration too!" I don't remember it happening then... must be the Trump friendly media was giving him cover.......

It's not a case of faulty memory. You don't remember it because you were not told about it at the time.

[Suppressed Poet]

Gotta love China’s response. They take no accountability for this thing floating into our airspace. In fact, it’s our fault and a big overreaction shooting it down.

[Suppressed Poet]

We were learning stuff from the balloon before our unpatriotic media alerted the Chinese that we were aware of it. Trump never shot down Chinese balloons that came into the country multiple times while he was President. He recognized the value of studying the balloons. After the Chinese learned we were aware of it, there was no longer any point in letting it appear to pass unnoticed, while we studied it and fed it false info.

Why am I the only person in this forum who understands what was really going on? Y'all need to watch more spy movies.







It's not a case of faulty memory. You don't remember it because you were not told about it at the time.

Since some official just recently revealed that fact in a press conference, we should take it as gospel. The Pentagon would never lie to the American people.

[Gelston]

So we have supposedly been tracking this balloon for a week or so... and we finally took action after it hoovered over our ICBM sites in Montana..

Why didn't we shoot it down over Alaska then? If it's what they say it was, why did we do nothing for over a week?

My favorite excuse so far is "Well, it happened during the Trump administration too!" I don't remember it happening then... must be the Trump friendly media was giving him cover.......

The DoD said it didn't pose any bigger risk than a spy satellite would have. The debris from shooting it down would have been more dangerous.

[Suppressed Poet]

We were learning stuff from the balloon before our unpatriotic media alerted the Chinese that we were aware of it.

Yeah all those residents of Montana who could see a balloon should have kept their damn mouth shut. What the hell is our media doing reporting news that people can see in the sky with their own two eyes?!? How dare our media not check with the Ministry of Truth first. Unpatriotic bastards.

[Parkbandit]

The DoD said it didn't pose any bigger risk than a spy satellite would have. The debris from shooting it down would have been more dangerous.

There are 1.3 people per square mile who live in Alaska. It's unlikely that there was any danger to anyone there.

There are 7.4 people per square mile who live in Montana. A much higher chance, but still not much.

For comparison reasons, there are 421 people per square mile in NY, 400 for Florida and 170 in SC.

[Parkbandit]

We were learning stuff from the balloon before our unpatriotic media alerted the Chinese that we were aware of it. Trump never shot down Chinese balloons that came into the country multiple times while he was President. He recognized the value of studying the balloons. After the Chinese learned we were aware of it, there was no longer any point in letting it appear to pass unnoticed, while we studied it and fed it false info.

Why am I the only person in this forum who understands what was really going on? Y'all need to watch more spy movies.

It's not a case of faulty memory. You don't remember it because you were not told about it at the time.

Sure.

[Parkbandit]

Yeah all those residents of Montana who could see a balloon should have kept their damn mouth shut. What the hell is our media doing reporting news that people can see in the sky with their own two eyes?!? How dare our media not check with the Ministry of Truth first. Unpatriotic bastards.

You didn't see this type of behavior when Trump was President.

[ClydeR]

There are 1.3 people per square mile who live in Alaska. It's unlikely that there was any danger to anyone there.

For a balloon flying at 60,000 feet, the debris field would have been a circle with a 7-mile radius. Applying some elementary math, that works out to 154 square miles. With 1.3 people per square mile, you would have killed 200 people. Congratulations.

SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: The senior military official would like to add something there. Just to put some context to the risk. So — so the debris field is at least seven miles spread out. So you can have an understanding, it doesn’t just fall down. It would have fallen at least in a seven-mile kind of radius that you'd have to clear and ensure safety of U.S. citizens and also infrastructure. Thank you.

More...

[Suppressed Poet]

For a balloon flying at 60,000 feet, the debris field would have been a circle with a 7-mile radius. Applying some elementary math, that works out to 154 square miles. With 1.3 people per square mile, you would have killed 200 people. Congratulations.

The problem with your math is you are not applying the size of this tiny balloon object. It’s not a nuke that is going to kill everyone in a 7 mile radius…

Edit: Tiny in size as compared to the radius of the debris field & the fact most of it is literally a balloon (soft).