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The Chinese spy balloon shot down by a US fighter jet over the Atlantic in February did not collect intelligence as it flew across the United States, the Pentagon said on Thursday (Jun 29). "It's been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States or overflying the United States," said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. Ryder said the US "took steps to mitigate" intelligence collection by the balloon. "Certainly the efforts we made contributed" to that, Ryder said, without further explanation.

"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 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." More at link

U.S. PLANS TO OUTSOURCE SIGINT WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States plans to outsource a large amount of its signals intelligence work in an effort to increase efficiency of its budget and manpower. U.S. officials said the National Security Agency embarked on the effort last month with its Project Ground Breaker. The project seeks to outsource a major portion of information technology required by the NSA, the chief U.S. agency responsible for signals intelligence. The agency's effort reflects recommendations drafted before the Al Qaida suicide attacks on New York and Washington more than a year ago. NSA has acknowledged that...