US President Joe Biden ordered the military to down what the White House described as a “high-altitude object” hovering over Alaska on Friday. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Defense secretary William Cohen join CNN’s Anderson Cooper to discuss. #CNN #News
Ex-Defense secretary on the message behind downing of ‘high-altitude object’
It is a normal practice around the world. If any foreign plane or unmanned object without prior pernission enters another airspace, it will be given an oppotunity to respond but if not it is condsidered a threat and will be shot down.
@sammyshott23 none. Trump shot down none of the at least three that flew over during his reign. He does have business ties and bank accounts in China, which may be a factor.
China should have written their name on the side in big red letters and Biden the hair sniffer would have let them land at the white house.
@ProfCheryl Trump, 1.4% inflation. $1.80 gas. Real record low unemployment. Biden’s unemployment record is tainted by the unemployment that was given out like water.40% of Those people that ran out of unemployment benefits, went on welfare . Check your states Health & Human services stats. Biden’s liberal agenda has caused this. So the unemployment rate is NOT correct, because those people don’t get counted in stats because they’re not looking for work. Safe borders, low prescription prices. Biden. 7.1% inflation, 9.1 at one time. NO, COVID did not cause ALL this high inflation. Biden sold off our oil reserves , opened up our southern border. We hear about Trump’s lies. Can you post actual Trump lied? Well here are just a few from Biden. He graduated top 3rd of his class with 3 degrees. Truth, 1 degree, & bottom 3rd. Sam Donaldson ABC news. Biden dropped out of the race in 88 for lying so much about his education. His marching in Selma was a lie. Biden getting arrested with Mandela, a lie. Biden said he got a purple heart for his uncle when he became VP. Biden became VP in 08. His uncle died in 99. Trump a chump, but got a bad rap. You should be really worried about the double standards in America. So feel free to debate, & prove the lefts claims about Trump.
@Boondoggle At the beginning of the mission or the end??🤔
@Jar Head wow, none of what you wrote is true, not one single thing.
If the balloon only had weather monitoring equipment, why didn’t China ask for permission to collect weather data over north America? Then again, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
@ULTRA FAGA And yet, here you are, watching and commenting and proving that you don’t know anything about mushrooms.
@sammyshott23 Yes. Here I am. Calling a mushroom a mushroom.
@Dustin Caso Just can’t let it go, can you Dusty. Are you that lonely? Nothing to do in Penn this time of year? How far do you want to take this childish convo Dusty? Just because a person questions the government doesn’t mean you support the other, thats how a child thinks Dusty, don’t you see that or are you a Fetterman voter? Maybe you had a stroke? However at 36, you may want to ask your doctor if the vaccine caused the stroke or is Pfizer’s own studies also Chinese propaganda? Kinda sad kid.
@Eric Leigh you’re really going to stalk me over an argument aren’t you? Lol
There’s military bases,theres secret bases,theres the Alaska triangle😉
There are lots of nukes in Alaska
That’s a very dangerous magnetic device that could cause a passenger airplane to crash if it stays in the sky long enough ⛔🛫⛔🛬⛔
If a commercial company were testing something they’d usually inform the government. Our airspace, our right.
@Suzy Qualcast Our country, our airspace. We also have a 200 mile perimeter of ocean. Stay out ,or get shot down.
@Suzy Qualcast The Yankees are running, a brigade of Chinese and Russian balloons is attacking you)))) ahahahahah
@Delayed Grats Russia has been fighting near the city of Bakhmut for 1 month in order to kill more of the enemy! Russia wants to reach the border of Ukraine and Poland and kill all NATO tanks and all NATO fighters so as not to go to Berlin! Less to go more to kill NATO fighters! That’s better!_((*%;;
Our space!
“We’re still here … We are not going anywhere.” – Native Americans 😔
Native Americans: Our Native American population in our motherland, Continent of America before the European Colonizers arrived, was around 15 millions, while European population in their motherland, Continent of Europe was around 25 millions.
Today, Native American population is 15 million, while the European population, in the Continents of America + Europe, is a staggering ‘TWO BILLIONS’! A shockingly sad truth.
China: It’s about time to decolonize the Colonized lands, and return it to rightful owners Native American people.
Remember, notorious global cardinal crimes the West has committed, and benefited a great deals, such as Slavery & Colonialism had long been over, why on earth is notorious Colonization still lingering on? 😔
Native Americans: We’re still here. We are not going anywhere. 😔
@Ksins1 Russia breaks every deal they make !
The most important “need” to know issue is if it could receive and transmit information.
As someone who has worked in the tech industry, I am often amazed at the ignorance of capabilities of it, or even common sense! “Intelligence failure.” If average Americans, media, and skywatchers knew it was there, why do they rant that sophisticated electronic intelligence gathering operations were not monitoring its transmissions?
Senator Jon Tester was interviewed the other day – he was invited to a meeting that explained the background and rationale for shooting down the balloon and when. So congress as a whole and the administration are not ignorant or blind to “what the protocol is”
Are you really that trusting of our intelligence? Do you remember how wrong they got the events leading up to 911????
If this balloon was Chinese then it was already in flight when the previous balloon first entered US air space. It would also not surprise me if this 2nd balloon really is a a weather balloon. I could even have been cover for the first one so Xi could say, see they are only weather balloons.
Personally, I think a short burst of 50 cal would be more cost effective and cause less damage to the intruder. Allowing a more comprehensive understanding of the equipment once retrieved..
I disagree. The timing of the takedown for this thing could be seen as exactly the same as for the balloon. It was over water and downing it wouldn’t risk any residents or infrastructure on our soil.
General James Clapper is one of the finest American Intelligence minds of the 21st. Century
LOL No videos yet?.. You would think CNN would talk about the two African American quarterbacks in the Superbowl for the first time at least!.. Go Chiefs
Among the possibilities analyzed by those in charge of the country’s security, one there must be a collusion between China and Russia, in order to confuse analysts, but above all to analyze the response of the military and its equipment and sensors. In this way, they test in the field that it works or not, that it is detected or not, or how long it takes until it happens, in order to have enough data to take action. Upon discovering flaws, they will be exploited by creating better devices, be they balloons or drones with different purposes, for example: A first device for scouting ahead and knowing where the defenses are, or an electronic warfare device or even EMP pulses to lower the defenses and open a corridor for the subsequent entry of attack vehicles or cruise/hypersonic missiles, with a higher percentage of success. It is also used for maskirovka, deception maneuvers to divert military resources to places far from the true objectives and divert forces, since the territories are large but the resources are limited.
There is no current state of war, but it has been a while since the last ones, and they have to update the tactics and the same hardware to the current moments, in the case of Russia we see the ineffectiveness of their operations and their equipment and they need to know that it can work of what they have or create something inexpensive but effective, in the case of China, expand their reach, which is currently limited and they want to expand it with the same speed with which they have expanded their army and naval forces.
Shouldn’t we have had a protocol to handle a situation like this ‘prior’ to an event like this ?
How much intelligence did China gather on this extended balloon trip across the USA ?
Let Clapper explain that !!
Could it be the weather balloon recently lost control by the US weather services?
Amazing…
… Amazon Balloon?
This one, from the little bit of description (size of a car) published so far, could very well have been a weather balloon.
I imagine these things are released all over the world, all the time.
If they got caught up in a jet stream, could they just keep going and going around the world, until they degrade or whatever?
National weather service says most weather balloons burst when they get high enough and a flight can last about 2 hours up to an altitude of about 100,000 feet.
So… Answering my own question… probably not a weather balloon unless it was just launched from a relatively close location or somehow modified to rise slowly.
One that was just the size of an automobile probably couldn’t carry a very large payload.
BTW:
Weather balloons can be ordered on Amazon, the largest being just over 300” in diameter.
Given the news frenzy the Chinese balloon caused the other day, maybe someone is just having fun with balloons….(?)
Interesting…..
In doing the Wikipedia thing, came across an article describing Geostationary Balloon Satellites and a picture of one that looks like the Chinese balloon that got shot down a few days ago.
The picture is of a proposed design that is intended to hover between 60,000 and 100,000 feet in relatively still air and have solar powered propulsion.
This design would be used to provide broad band internet over a wide area without using a satellite.
What is striking is the picture….
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_balloon#Geostationary_balloon_satellite
There is a company in Arizona that is working on a couple of designs for a Geostationary Balloon Satellite, including one they call a ‘Stratollite’ whose description matches the picture.
China apparently decided to pursue the idea of Geostationary Balloon Design some years ago.
So…
If a person decided to purchase a weather balloon from Amazon, outfitted it with … (whatever) … and launched it, would the military be obligated to shoot it down?
Apparently it is legal to purchase and own a weather balloon.
Is it against the law to fill it with helium and launch it?
Stay Well…
No matter how many times John Yoo provides commentary, few will forget his involvement in the shameful U.S. chapter where his torture memo authorized torture of enemies in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
The State Department is in violation of the Constitution for violating first amendment rights. We the people need a Citizens Government made up of council, legal, enforcement, to enforce the strict rights given to the Federal, State and the People. Perhaps legal lawsuits against those in government who violate those rules. Common law courts rather than corrupted courts.
*For someone who knows more than me: why’d we have to take the balloon down with expensive missiles? Would machine gun fire not have taken a balloon down?*