Supposedly the folks at NORAD saw the China balloon BEFORE it even got to the Aleutian Islands. However, they just watched it because they were pretty positive that there probably wasn’t hostile intent. However, it is the REST of the details that inspire exactly ZERO confidence in our government’s response.

There’ve been a great number of people, mostly Democrats and pundits who have sneeringly suggested that the concerns over the balloon are unfounded because satellites! Except that there are multiple reasons why a balloon could be better than a satellite for intelligence gathering. Cost is just one reason.

Spy balloons also could be considered more useful than a satellite because the devices are more maneuverable and have greater ability to hover over a site or target.

“They offer flexibility of payload, maneuverability and loitering time on station, too — as the Chinese apparently showed off with theirs over the US,” Herzinger said.

US defense and military officials have said the giant Chinese orb, which was carrying sensors and surveillance equipment, had loitered over sensitive areas of Montana where nuclear warheads are siloed.

Officials had warned that the balloon, which was capable of changing course, could potentially take in a number of other sensitive sites.

While satellites are the preferred method of spying overhead, such devices can typically only do so at one of two different types of orbit — low Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit, experts say.

Satellites, in order to stay in orbit, have to maintain a constant speed. Balloons however, can be, as pointed out above, can move much more slowly over targets and or even HOVER over said target. Which means the balloon with it’s payload would have a better opportunity to gather MORE detailed information. 

Rho Kanna (D-CA) still surprises me once in awhile. 

We are supposed to believe that this was just an innocent weather balloon that wandered off course, yet had a very interesting and specific path across the United States. Additionally, many continue to ask, WHY the balloon wasn’t shot down as soon as it was sighted near the Aleutian Islands. 

“There’s a lot of open questions the administration needs to answer to Congress on behalf of the American people on why they didn’t,” Cotton said.

Cotton guessed that the delayed response was due in part to Biden’s desire to avoid “any action that would be viewed as provocative or confrontational towards the Chinese communists.” He also said he believed that the administration “wanted to salvage the Secretary of State’s trip” to China Friday night.

Well, today, NORAD had an answer for that. 

Gen. VanHerck: “It was my assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America. This is under my NORAD hat, and therefore I could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent."

— Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) February 6, 2023

Are you kidding me right now??!! NORAD and DOD didn’t think it was anything to be concerned about because it wasn’t ACTING HOSTILE?? Wow. 

Wow: Northcom chief Gen. VanHerck says the balloon was up to 200 ft tall, with a payload the size of a jetliner. It weighed "in excess of a couple thousand lbs" and potentially carried explosives " to detonate and destroy the balloon."

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) February 6, 2023

But SURE. We are supposed to believe it wasn’t hostile?? Do they even hear themselves on this?? Keep in mind, suddenly we are hearing about three other balloons that might’ve wandered into the U.S. and wandered back out again. Except that everyone in the intelligence community under the Trump Administration has definitively said NOPE, we were never informed. 

Oh wait, now we know why they weren’t informed. 

NEW: US was able to collect intelligence on Chinese spy balloon's ability to transmit signals as it passed through the United States: DoD

NORTHCOM chief Gen. Van Herck said US intel agencies pieced together that China had sent 3 previous balloons into US that were not detected.

— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) February 6, 2023

He acknowledged that the United States wasn't aware at the time of several previous surveillance balloons that visited in recent years and were reported in the media over the last few days.

But in this case, they saw it coming north of the Aleutian Islands, he said.

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) February 6, 2023

So now we find out that balloons (including one that crashed near Hawaii) have been floating around undetected gathering information at will. Keep in mind, these balloons are visible to the naked eye even when hovering at 60,000 feet. And a payload the size of a small jet?? Yet they didn’t act for well over a week because it wasn’t hostile? Oh wait, we are supposed to be thrilled that our folks managed to figure out how the data it was gathering was transmitted back to China. Terrific! WHAT DATA DID CHINA GET?? 

As for not shooting it down until it got over the Atlantic Ocean, where it left a debris field fifteen football fields wide an deep? NORAD wanted to keep everyone safe from the hazardous material, but NOT explosives! Maybe.

Asked about the potential hazards if the balloon had been shot down over land, VanHerck said the device had “glass off of [its] solar panels; potentially hazardous material, such as material that is required for batteries to operate in such an environment as this; and even the potential for explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon that could have been present.”

He stopped short of confirming that the balloon was, in fact, carrying explosives.

All of this raises more questions than answers. And we really should be provided clear answers. How many balloons are out there right now? Who has eyes on them? What is their flight path? Why is it going to take days or weeks for a Navy Salvage vessel to get to the crash site? 

As for the intel that China gathered, that should be of high concern to the Administration. Yet thus far, they don’t seem to care. 

Biden’s SOTU is tomorrow night. Now with this new information, there is just no way this can be spun to make it seem like an accomplishment on any level. About the most we can say is Kudos and Thank You to the fighter pilots who shot the damned thing down. 

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