{"id":1841296,"date":"2023-02-09T13:35:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T18:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1841296"},"modified":"2023-02-09T13:41:08","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T18:41:08","slug":"state-department-reveals-chinese-spy-balloon-passing-over-sensitive-u-s-sites-could-collect-communications-including-phone-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-reveals-chinese-spy-balloon-passing-over-sensitive-u-s-sites-could-collect-communications-including-phone-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"State Department Reveals Chinese Spy Balloon Passing Over Sensitive U.S. Sites Could Collect Communications, Including Phone Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstate-department-reveals-chinese-spy-balloon-passing-over-sensitive-u-s-sites-could-collect-communications-including-phone-calls%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1841296&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2023\/02\/balloon.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>The State Department admitted that the Chinese spy balloon, which reportedly floated above the United States for eight consecutive days, included vital national security sites and was fitted with antennas that could likely collect communications.<\/p>\n<p>The Wall Street Journal reported that this news was relayed by a senior State Department official. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/chinese-balloon-carried-antennas-other-equipment-to-gather-intelligence-u-s-says-11675953033\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>, adding that the official revealed the balloon had large solar panels that could power collection sensors and that the balloon\u2019s manufacturer is involved with China\u2019s military. Information about the balloon \u2014 which flew over Montana, where a nuclear missile silo field at Malmstrom Air Force Base is located \u2014 was obtained by using high-altitude U-2 aircraft as well as debris left by the balloon after it was shot down on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Despite not being authorized by the U.S. to gather intelligence inside the U.S. Military, Gen. Glen VanHerck (commander of U.S. Northern Command) revealed that. \u201cspecific authorities were granted to collect intelligence against the balloon specifically, and we utilized specific capabilities to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of the balloon\u2019s manufacturer, the senior official stated, \u201cThe company also advertises balloon products on its website and hosts videos from past flights, which appear to have overflown at least U.S. airspace and airspace of other countries. These advertised balloon videos seemingly have similar flight patterns as the balloons we have been discussing this week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last Friday, after citizens in Montana had identified the balloon the day before and the Pentagon said it was tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon, China\u2019s foreign ministry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fmprc.gov.cn\/mfa_eng\/xwfw_665399\/s2510_665401\/202302\/t20230203_11019484.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stated,<\/a> \u201cThe airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) slammed President Joe Biden on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat began as a spy balloon has become a trial balloon, testing President Biden\u2019s strength and resolve. And unfortunately, the president failed that test. And that\u2019s dangerous for the American people. The president was paralyzed for entire week by a balloon,\u201d Cotton stated. \u201cWe should have shot this balloon down over the Aleutian Islands. We should have never allowed it to transit the entire continental United States. And I think there\u2019s a lot of open questions that the administration needs to answer to Congress on behalf of the American people about why they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocratic presidents only take action like shooting down this balloon once their hand is forced,\u201d Cotton was added. \u201cAnd I think on Thursday, when civilians in Montana identified this balloon, it \u2014 well, it forced the president\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/dailywire.com\/news\/tom-cotton-biden-was-paralyzed-for-entire-week-by-a-balloon-because-hes-afraid-of-chinese-communists\/\">Tom Cotton: Biden Was \u2018Paralyzed For Entire Week By A Balloon\u2019 Because He\u2019s Afraid Of \u2018Chinese Communists\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State Department admitted that the Chinese spy balloon, which reportedly floated above the United States for eight consecutive days, included vital national security sites and was fitted with antennas that could likely collect communications. The Wall Street Journal reported that this news was relayed by a senior State Department official. reported, adding that the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1835227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[17453,3755,4117,18164,8583,4724,3906,4520,3736,5114,15900,7022,6893,7238],"class_list":["post-1841296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-balloon","tag-calls","tag-chinese","tag-collect","tag-communications","tag-department","tag-including","tag-passing","tag-phone","tag-reveals","tag-sensitive","tag-sites","tag-spy","tag-u-s"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1841296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1835227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1841296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1841296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1841296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}