Oh look another conspiracy theory comes true.
The Chinese spy balloon was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, according to two current senior US officials and one former senior administration official. The intelligence China collected from electronic signals can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel rather than images, officials said. China controlled the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time. The balloon had a self-destruct mechanism that could have been activated remotely by China, but it’s not clear if that didn’t happen because the mechanism malfunctioned or because China decided not to trigger it.
NBC News was the first to report the incompetence of the Biden admin. Reuters has also confirmed the report.
After the balloon was shot down in February, Biden administration officials said it was capable of collecting signals intelligence. The balloon first entered US airspace over Alaska on January 28, according to the Biden administration, which said it was tracking it as it moved. Within the next four days, the balloon was flying over Montana — specifically Malmstrom Air Force Base, where the US stores some of its nuclear assets.
China has repeatedly said that the balloon was an unmanned civilian airship that accidentally strayed off course, and that the US overreacted by shooting it down. Officials have not said which company, department or organization the balloon belonged to, despite several requests for comment by NBC News. The US government said it waited to shoot the balloon down until it was over the ocean to avoid any damage or casualties on the ground.
The incident highlights that the Biden administration continues to lie – or worse – be incompetent. Initially, the Biden administration said that the balloon was being jammed and not gathering information.
Just a few short weeks later we’ve learned that is a lie.
Biden admin allowed China’s spy balloon to fly across the U.S. but reportedly failed to prevent it from collecting sensitive military data.https://t.co/nVV6c0YGtN
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 3, 2023
