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Spy balloons are part of a broader Chinese military surveillance campaign: CNN

US intelligence officials believe the recently found Chinese spy balloon was part of an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military, according to multiple US officials familiar with the intelligence.

Officials told CNN that the surveillance program, which includes several similar balloons, is partly outside China’s tiny Hainan province. The US does not know the exact size of the balloon fleet that monitors China, but sources told CNN the program has carried out at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years.

About half a dozen of those flights were in US airspace – though not necessarily over US territory, according to an official familiar with intelligence.

And not all balloons seen globally are of the same model as the one that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, that official and another source familiar with intelligence said. . Instead, there are many “variations,” these people say.

The link to the broader surveillance program, discovered before the latest hot air balloon was discovered last week, was first reported by the Washington Post.

CNN asked the Chinese Embassy in Washington for comment on the suggestion that the downed balloon was part of a broader surveillance program.

Meanwhile at a government lab in Quantico, Virginia, an elite team of FBI engineers are studying what’s left of the recovered balloon, trying to learn everything they can about the information. intelligence it may have gathered and how best to track future surveillance balloons.

Sources familiar with the effort say that officials want to understand as much as possible about the balloon’s technical capabilities including what kind of data it can intercept and collect, and which satellites are associated with it. and whether it has any vulnerabilities that the United States may have. exploit.

And perhaps in earnest, investigators will look at the digital signatures it emits to see if they provide a better way for the United States to track this type of balloon in the future. The commander of the US Northern Command, General Glen VanHerck, admitted to reporters on Monday that the US has a “domain perception loophole” that has allowed balloons in the past to enter the air. United States without being detected.

A source familiar with the FBI’s operations said the analysis and reconstruction of the balloon’s payload would ideally determine if the balloon is equipped with the ability to transmit the data it collects over time. real time for the Chinese military, or whether the device contains the “stored collection”. China will then analyze after the last device is recalled.

China insists the ship shot down by the US was a weather balloon thrown off course but gave a rare expression of “regret” about it in a statement on Friday.

Beijing’s statement hardened after the US military shot down the balloon, with China’s foreign ministry accusing the US of “overreacting” and “seriously violating international practice”. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry expressed “serious objections”, warning China “has the right to use necessary measures to deal with similar situations.”

VALUE INFORMATION GRADUATE FROM GAS OVER THE US

Defense officials say the United States has gathered important clues to answer some of these questions while the balloon was traveling over the United States.

According to a defense official, the United States – using some technical capabilities provided by the National Security Agency along with other agencies – has collected some real-time information about the type of signal that The balloon emits as it moves.

“I think you will see in the future that that timeframe is well worth it,” says VanHerck.

But officials want to be able to test the balloon’s hardware to learn more about its exact capabilities.

“When the balloon is in our hands, we can look at technology, we can rebuild supply chains, find figure out who helped build it, what components are important to it.” House Intelligence Committee. “Obviously you can tell its function and specifications. Owning it is very intellectually valuable.”

The United States will also try to learn more about China’s intelligence-gathering priorities in the United States.

But how much the intelligence community can learn about the information the balloons actually collect or are trying to collect, is unclear at this point, some officials said, and will likely depend depending on the degree of damage to the underlying structure of the balloon. initially shot down and fell into the sea at 60,000 feet.

Officials say the biggest unanswered question remains China’s intentions. China continues to argue that the ship was a weather balloon that drifted off course and that its passage through the United States was an accident. Officials have acknowledged that the balloon has limited drivability and is mostly jet-driven.

However, many defense officials and other intelligence sources say China’s explanation is unreliable and have described the balloon’s flight path as intentional.

The source familiar with the FBI’s operations also noted that the intelligence community would be interested in finding out if the equipment on the Chinese hot air balloon had any technical similarities with the technology supported by the community. newspapers and the U.S. military or not, because the Chinese government has long been very active in stealing American information. defense secrets.

ELITE GROUP ANALYSIS OF EXISTENCE

A team of experts from the FBI’s Operations Technology Division is analyzing pieces of the wreckage, the person told CNN.

This elite team consists of agents, analysts, engineers and scientists who are responsible for creating technical surveillance measures and analyzing the measures of US adversaries.

For example, OTD employees build surveillance equipment used by the FBI and intelligence community employees to target national security threats — but they are also responsible for managing the collection of data that is collected. authorized courts and work to defeat attempts by foreign intelligence agencies to infiltrate the United States.

The source said a full analysis of the debris will take an indefinite amount of time, as recovery efforts are still underway.

Meanwhile, defense officials emphasized that the United States had learned more about the balloon’s capabilities by allowing it to fly over the United States rather than shooting it down immediately – a decision that some Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have criticized it as a counterintelligence threat.

However, according to a member of the House Intelligence Committee, “there are a number of reasons why we’re not doing that. We want to collect it, you want to see where it’s going and what it does.”

“We are not defenseless,” the person added. “This is a hot air balloon anyway, not a stealth bomber.”

A defense official said the US has procedures in place – like a kind of digital blackout – to protect sensitive sites from aerial surveillance, which is commonly used for satellite flyovers.



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