Thread: Why the discovery of a Chinese balloon in US skies is such a big deal

Originally Posted by OhOh

Any ADZ, outside its territorial waters, is nobodies airspace.

There are two recognised lawful treaties which apply to those countries that have ratified them.

As NaGaStan has not ratified UNCLOS, it is not and cannot utilize the protections of it.

The Paris Convention.

The Paris Convention of 1919 sought to determine this question as part of the process of framing the convention's assumptions, and it was decided that each nation has absolute sovereignty over the airspace overlying its territories and waters

and

UNCLOS

1. The sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyond its land territory and internal waters and, in the case of an archipelagic State, its archipelagic waters, to an adjacent belt of sea, described as the territorial sea.

2. This sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil.

3. The sovereignty over the territorial sea is exercised subject to this Convention and to other rules of international law.

LIMTS OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA

Bredth of the territorial sea

Every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with this Convention

You can always rely on hoohoo to cut and paste this waffle every time.

Of course when a US plane or ship goes within sniffing distance of anything chinky, he whines like a stuck fucking pig.

Caitlin Johnstone
@caitoz


So to recap, the US air force shot down a Chinese balloon which US officials have subsequently admitted was only blown over the US by accident, then went on a spree of shooting things out of the sky which it turns out were probably civilian party balloons. Do I have that right?




12:08 PM · Feb 18, 2023·277.3K
Views
Caitlin Johnstone

Originally Posted by sabang

Caitlin Johnstone
@caitoz


So to recap, the US air force shot down a Chinese balloon which US officials have subsequently admitted was only blown over the US by accident, then went on a spree of shooting things out of the sky which it turns out were probably civilian party balloons. Do I have that right?

Every time his crush posts more dribble, sabang masturbates furiously.

Originally Posted by sabang

Caitlin Johnstone
@caitoz

I went over to read some of her tweets.

You do know, she's not all there.

U.S. intelligence officials determined the Chinese spy balloon used a U.S. internet provider to communicate


WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. this year used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment.

The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.

The Biden administration sought a highly secretive court order from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about it while it was over the U.S., according to multiple current and former U.S. officials. How the court ruled has not been disclosed.


Such a court order would have allowed U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance on the balloon as it flew over the U.S. and as it sent and received messages to and from China, the officials said, including communications sent via the American internet service provider.

The company denied that the Chinese balloon had used its network, a determination it said was based on its own investigation and discussions it had with U.S. officials.
NBC News is not naming the provider to protect the identity of its sources.

A National Security Council spokesperson referred questions to the national intelligence director's office. It declined to comment.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said it was a weather balloon that accidentally drifted into American airspace.

"As we had made it clear before, the airship, used for meteorological research, unintentionally drifted into U.S. because of the westerlies and its limited self-steering capability," Liu told NBC News in a statement. "The facts are clear."

Chinese intelligence officials have covertly used commercially available service providers in various countries in the past, often as backup communication networks, according to multiple former U.S. officials. They frequently seek out encrypted networks or ones with strong security protocols so they can communicate securely, the officials said.

The previously unreported U.S. effort to monitor the balloon's communications could be one reason Biden administration officials have insisted that they got more intelligence out of the device than it got as it flew over the U.S.

Senior administration officials have said the U.S. was able to protect sensitive sites on the ground because they closely tracked the balloon's projected flight path. The U.S. military moved or obscured sensitive equipment so the balloon could not collect images or video while it was overhead.

After the balloon was shot down on Feb. 4, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, told reporters that the U.S. military and intelligence community had taken exhaustive steps to protect against the balloon's ability to collect intelligence.

“We took maximum precaution to prevent any intel collection," VanHerck said at a briefing. "So that we could take maximum protective measures while the balloon transited across the United States.”

In an exclusive interview this month, VanHerck said he worked together with U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees U.S. nuclear weapons, to reduce the release of emergency action messages to ensure the Chinese balloon could not collect them.

“We took action to put capabilities away, whether that be airplanes, ballistic missiles in our missile fields," VanHerck said. "We limited our emission of emergency action messages that could be potentially collected on."

Emergency action messages, or EAM, are how U.S. leaders communicate with strategic forces all around the world. The messages, which are highly classified, can include directing nuclear-capable forces on response options in the case of a nuclear war.

“Protecting EAM and nuclear command and control communications is of critical importance to the United States,” a senior defense official said.

After the balloon was shot down, a senior State Department official said that it was used by China for surveillance and that it was loaded with equipment able to collect signals intelligence.

The balloon had multiple antennas, including an array most likely able to collect and geolocate communications, the official said. It was also powered by enormous solar panels that generated enough power to operate intelligence collection sensors, the official said.
Defense and intelligence officials have said the U.S. assessment is that the balloon was not able to transmit intelligence back to China while it was over the U.S.

The FBI forensics team that examined the balloon after it was shot down completed a classified report about the equipment it carried, according to multiple U.S. officials. Its findings remain secret and have not been widely briefed.

Federal judges on the surveillance court, where proceedings are held in secret, must determine whether there is probable cause that the surveillance target is a foreign power or a foreign agent and that the surveillance is necessary to obtain foreign intelligence information. The court's rulings are classified.

U.S. intelligence officials determined the Chinese spy balloon used a U.S. internet provider to communicate

^ WAR Driving is still an effective way to find a connection to the internet. Most WiFi networks have passwords these days, but not all. Would be interesting to know exactly what the balloon was up to.

Originally Posted by thailazer

Would be interesting to know exactly what the balloon was up to.

Lots of good intelligence obtained by the US, IMHO, which is why the balloon was allowed to stay in the sky so long.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Lots of good intelligence obtained by the US, IMHO, which is why the balloon was allowed to stay in the sky so long.

Yeah, and I imagine they were able to know just about everything about it after examining the hardware they collected.

Originally Posted by thailazer

after examining the hardware they collected.

Exactly why they waited to shoot it down over water.