Posted on 02/05/2023 7:04:50 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday did not directly answer a question on what potential information a suspected Chinese spy balloon could have collected when it flew over the United States, saying it was “well outside” his “lane.”
“I’m sure there’s a similar presumption about what spy satellites do,” Buttigieg told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “That is well outside of my lane, I’m just glad that nobody was hurt.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
If the Chinese balloon was intercepting communications of Biden administration officials like Booty-jag, it’s doubtful they collected any intelligence whatsoever.
I’m not sure he’s smart enough to tell time, let alone have any worthwhile information. He is totally unqualified for the position he holds. It was a payoff for dropping out of the 2020 primaries. He could run South Bend, why would anyone think he could run Transportation?
Buttplug is back from his maternity leave? Didn’t notice.
“”saying it was “well outside” his “lane.””
THAT was a stupid question to ask him to begin with - at least he knows his limitations!!!!!
That idiot’s tech knowledge ended when he learned about a wedge. The current admininstration’s prime criteria for a gubmit position is their coefficient of idiocy multiplied by their weirdness factor.
In an administration of evil incompetents, he is easily the most evil and most incompetent.
He wouldn’t know unless it had a penis attacked
Buttplug doesn’t know anything.
Why are they asking the DoT head about this? Balloons floating 65k from a foreign power are not his lane.
It’s a requirement for the Biden administration.
Pete knows nothing except that he’s queer........ that’s all
He’s a tool.
Of course it collected our info, but only a fraction of what we collect from them on a daily basis.
Good one.
Buttigeig wouldn’t know. He is just a progressive show piece.
Mayor Pete has accomplished something truly astounding. He is so incompetent as Secretary of Transportation, that regular people actually know who the Secretary of Transportation is!
We will never know if the satellite uplink from the balloon tranmitters to ChiCom comsats were intercepted. My guess is we broke into the data link and did elint on the balloon. Again we will never know.
The use of balloons for surveillance dates back to the late 1700’s. We used them here during the civil war and none were ever shot down.
The United States also had a series of balloon programs early in the Cold War that were intended to try to get a peek behind the Iron Curtain. The programs, starting in 1953, were known as Project Moby Dick and Project Genetrix, and had some successes and failures but ultimately worked well enough to keep the technology going.
While balloons are far from the most secretive form of intelligence, they are still a part of most major government surveillance efforts — at least in some capacity. They were used by U.S. forces in the war in Afghanistan and continue to be part of military operations today.
Our competitors in the world like Russia and China use many different forms of comm surveillance. We have had Russian subs around, and sometimes in our harbor in, Seattle, submerged, getting fed information, some false, from Bangor and the Naval Special Operations Training facility in Seattle, NAVFAC, for years. But they require refueling and/or replacement, unlike balloons that have a number of advantages subs don’t have. The main ones are cost and time capacity over target.
wy69
FYI: The warhead on the US Sidewinder missile did NOT detonate when it impacted the Chinese War Balloon. It could be because the target was too soft to cause the missile’s impact fuse to work, and maybe its proximity fuse could not “see” the thin floating balloon enough, that it was unable to reflect enough of a signal to “read” its proximity. But more likely? I believe the US Air Force removed the explosive warhead from the missile, so they were basically firing a supersonic dart at the balloon, so as to take no chances of damaging the technological apparatus it was carrying!
Sidewinders are IR seeking right? The balloon had a ZERO IR signature.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.