Pentagon says it had ‘an awareness gap’ that led to failure to detect 3 Chinese balloons under Trump

[Scott]

 

The American military had a “domain awareness gap” that allowed three other suspected Chinese spy balloons to transit the continental United States undetected under the Trump administration, the Pentagon general responsible for providing air and missile defense over North America said on Monday.

“Every day as a NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America. I will tell you that we did not detect those threats,” Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command said when asked about the three other balloons.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/06/politics/pentagon-balloon-monday/index.html

[sqwakvfr]

This just gave the MAGA more ammo.  In essence NORAD failed to detect airborne intrusion.  But NORAD did a great job in tracking Santa in December. 800 Billion Dollar Defense Budget and could not detect a slow moving balloon.  

[Tug]

Sounds to me someone is trying to cover their naked rear end I’d be curious to know if the information was squashed at the behest of mr trump 

[SunnyinBangrak]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Sounds to me someone is trying to cover their naked rear end I’d be curious to know if the information was squashed at the behest of mr trump 

Reads like frantic backpedalling from the false claims yesterday the Trump admin allowed at least 3 of these Chinese spy balloons to cross the USA just like biden's balloon did. Ouch.

 

Always worthwhile running a quick filter through eyebrow raising news. If it is attacking Trump, from media that famously called the Biden laptop "Russian disinformation" without evidence, and is perfectly timed to distract from disasters in the Biden administration it is almost certainly fake news.

[onthedarkside]

Bizarre off topic troll post removed, please stay on topic

[IAMHERE]

I hardly believe the number 3 as used by  the mass media. One flew over Hawaiian Islands and crash landed into the Pacific. Another flew over part of Texas and then it flew over Florida (that is two instances). That one for Hawaii and another gets sited twice, so that makes 3. The Pentagon is lying via obfuscations, again.

 

[Credo]

2 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

I hardly believe the number 3 as used by  the mass media. One flew over Hawaiian Islands and crash landed into the Pacific. Another flew over part of Texas and then it flew over Florida (that is two instances). That one for Hawaii and another gets sited twice, so that makes 3. The Pentagon is lying via obfuscations, again.

 

Here's a little more you apparently missed:

The balloons that overflew Guam and Norfolk were thought to have radar-jamming capabilities, while the flights near Norfolk, where the US stations aircraft carriers, came around the time China was launching its own such vessel.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-06/chinese-balloons-spotted-near-military-bases-near-guam-virginia-under-trump

[Tug]

59 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

Reads like frantic backpedalling from the false claims yesterday the Trump admin allowed at least 3 of these Chinese spy balloons to cross the USA just like biden's balloon did. Ouch.

 

Always worthwhile running a quick filter through eyebrow raising news. If it is attacking Trump, from media that famously called the Biden laptop "Russian disinformation" without evidence, and is perfectly timed to distract from disasters in the Biden administration it is almost certainly fake news.

Here’s a thought military personnel especially higher ups are very professional it could be (I’m speculating here) that they dident pass on the information due to the knowledge of trumps famous instability and temper tantrums 

[internationalism]

If Norad failed to detect balloons, because they don't have capabiliities, how they know now how many really were those balloons, what was their trail, how dangerous were they. 

[spidermike007]

It is more likely that Trump was so busy cozying up to Xi, before declaring his ridiculous trade war, that they let them go without mention. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Credo said:

Here's a little more you apparently missed:

The balloons that overflew Guam and Norfolk were thought to have radar-jamming capabilities, while the flights near Norfolk, where the US stations aircraft carriers, came around the time China was launching its own such vessel.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-06/chinese-balloons-spotted-near-military-bases-near-guam-virginia-under-trump

Sooooo, the US military had an intrusion by a possibly radar jamming aircraft near the aircraft carriers and didn't declare a general alert! Sure, sure, I believe that, NOT.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, internationalism said:

If Norad failed to detect balloons, because they don't have capabiliities, how they know now how many really were those balloons, what was their trail, how dangerous were they. 

1/ do we believe they can't or couldn't detect balloons?

 

2/ if they couldn't, why not?

 

3/ if they couldn't, why so few balloons?

 

4/ undetectable balloons would be the perfect way to launch an attack on the US.

[thaibeachlovers]

32 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

It is more likely that Trump was so busy cozying up to Xi, before declaring his ridiculous trade war, that they let them go without mention. 

LOL. You really have Trump in your head, the amount of times you insert him into threads.

[dpcjsr]

I have not understood how we know they are Chinese. Based on what? The entire thing is ridiculous and heads need to roll. 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, dpcjsr said:

I have not understood how we know they are Chinese. Based on what? The entire thing is ridiculous and heads need to roll. 

The Chinese said they are weather balloons, ergo they are Chinese.

[SunnyinBangrak]

3 hours ago, Credo said:

Here's a little more you apparently missed:

The balloons that overflew Guam and Norfolk were thought to have radar-jamming capabilities, while the flights near Norfolk, where the US stations aircraft carriers, came around the time China was launching its own such vessel.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-06/chinese-balloons-spotted-near-military-bases-near-guam-virginia-under-trump

These potentially radar jamming balloons are detectable from an old fashioned method. People looking up. Was nobody looking up on Trump's 3 times he allowed balloons from China to cross the country?

 

"People from towns including Villa Ridge, Hermann, Troy, Wentzville, O'Fallon, Missouri, Ballwin, south St. Louis and others reported seeing the white dot in the sky Friday afternoon."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/across-region-st-louisans-look-up-and-see-chinese-spy-balloon-in-sky/ar-AA175LBi?item=flights%3Aprg-tipsubsc-v1a&ocid=windirect

 

[Eric Loh]

6 hours ago, Tug said:

Sounds to me someone is trying to cover their naked rear end I’d be curious to know if the information was squashed at the behest of mr trump 

Intelligence officials during Trump's Presidency have warned to avoid giving him intelligence assessments that contradict positions he has taken or beliefs he hold. He was also has a stubborn disregard for intelligence briefing and was had a willful ignorance when presented with intelligence analysis. He often skip intelligence briefings. because in his own words Ï don't need daily briefings". 

[vandeventer]

4 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

I hardly believe the number 3 as used by  the mass media. One flew over Hawaiian Islands and crash landed into the Pacific. Another flew over part of Texas and then it flew over Florida (that is two instances). That one for Hawaii and another gets sited twice, so that makes 3. The Pentagon is lying via obfuscations, again.

 

One would think if a slow moving balloon was flying over the USA in Trumps time somebody would have seen it. A photo taken from the ground or a pilot would have reported it. The BS from the Pentagon and the Media is again untruth.

[Eric Loh]

13 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

One would think if a slow moving balloon was flying over the USA in Trumps time somebody would have seen it. A photo taken from the ground or a pilot would have reported it. The BS from the Pentagon and the Media is again untruth.

China should have big inscription on the balloon with large caps "This is a China spy balloon", Then everybody can see it and not think it is just another balloon flying across the sky and report it. Perhaps everybody should be trained to identify spy ballons and normal balloons. US has roughly 3,000 registered balloons. The airwaves wil be filled with reports. Some may even take a pot shot taking a lead from those deranged Maga GOP. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Eric Loh
wrong words

[vandeventer]

1 hour ago, Eric Loh said:

China should have big inscription on the balloon with large caps "This is a China spy balloon", Then everybody can see it and not think it is just another balloon flying across the sky and report it. Perhaps everybody should be trained to identify spy ballons and normal balloons. US has roughly 3,000 registered balloons. The airwaves wil be filled with reports. Some may even take a pot shot taking a lead from those deranged Maga GOP. 

Of the 3000 register balloons how many are 200 ft wide? Maybe somebody should have told the F-22 pilot he could be shooting down a USA weather balloon. Think again.

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288543/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/

[metisdead]

An off topic post about Bidenomics has been removed.

[Phoenix Rising]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL. You really have Trump in your head, the amount of times you insert him into threads.

trump is literally in the name of the thread!

[JonnyF]

3 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

China should have big inscription on the balloon with large caps "This is a China spy balloon"

They'd probably just write it in Chinese characters though. Nobody on the ground would be able to read it and therefore the CCP would have outsmarted the Democrats yet again. Maybe they could call it a "translation gap" and The Pentagon could come out and claim exactly the same thing happened under Trump 15 times.

[Phoenix Rising]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

They'd probably just write it in Chinese characters though. Nobody on the ground would be able to read it and therefore the CCP would have outsmarted the Democrats yet again. Maybe they could call it a "translation gap" and The Pentagon could come out and claim exactly the same thing happened under Trump 15 times.

Do I detect some bitterness that this episode seemed to be a rare chance for the right whiners to attack President Biden and then it all imploded when it turned out that 45 had cluelessly allowed it to happen three - 3 - times and not done anything about it?

[spidermike007]

13 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL. You really have Trump in your head, the amount of times you insert him into threads.

Nah. I rarely ever think of him. Thankfully. It is just a humorous thing at this point. Kind of a running gag. He sure was funny, without intending to be so. 

[Damrongsak]

Maybe those were just Malcolm Forbes' old balloons.  Or maybe Lawn Chair Larry is back.

      

 

[bendejo]

That John Bolton has to have the worst witness protection program disguise ever!

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Nah. I rarely ever think of him. Thankfully. It is just a humorous thing at this point. Kind of a running gag. He sure was funny, without intending to be so. 

I don't really believe that you rarely think of him, but regardless he WAS a joke, and the joke was on the US that US politics have become so toxic that a man like that became POTUS. Sadly, his time is up but he hasn't got the message yet, but who can make him see that it's time to use the exit door from politics?

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I don't really believe that you rarely think of him, but regardless he WAS a joke, and the joke was on the US that US politics have become so toxic that a man like that became POTUS. Sadly, his time is up but he hasn't got the message yet, but who can make him see that it's time to use the exit door from politics?

As an American I agree. And I would go so far as to state that the US will never again have a decent, halfway noble leader, with a modicum of integrity or leadership ability. The office has become so foul, and no decent person will have any interest in subjecting themselves to it.

 

Which leaves only megalomaniacs, creeps, crooks, and wannabe power mongers. Guys like Prayuth and Trump. It is a sad prediction, I know. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by spidermike007

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, spidermike007 said:

As an American I agree. And I would go so far as to state that the US will never again have a decent, halfway noble leader, with a modicum of integrity or leadership ability. The office has become too toaix, as you say, and no decent person will have any interest in subjecting themselves to it. Which leaves only megalomaniacs, creeps, crooks, and wannabe despots. 

Agree 100% with all in that post.

IMO Kennedy was the last decent POTUS. At least his heart was in the right place, even if his little head was in the wrong places.