China’s Spy Balloon Was Full of US Tech, Chinese Sensors

The Chinese balloon shot down by the US military earlier this year was full of US technology and set up for one clear purpose: surveillance.

As The Wall Street Journal(Opens in a new window) reports, after months of analysis by the FBI and several US defense and intelligence agencies, the contents of what the balloon carried have been revealed.

The Chinese government claims it was a weather research balloon that flew off course, but the analysis reveals the satellite device suspended from the balloon was “crammed” full of commercially available US technology combined with specialized Chinese sensors.

The hardware was geared towards collecting information, including photos and videos, as it traveled above Alaska, Canada, and a number of US states. The device also had solar panels on the exterior for power and a propeller allowing the balloon to move in a specific direction or “loiter over a site for long periods.”

The natural conclusion of the analysis is that this balloon was created as a covert surveillance tool. Thankfully, none of the collected information was transmitted back to Beijing before it was shot down. However, the Pentagon believes the balloon is part of a wider surveillance program by the Chinese government, with similar balloons floating above 60,000 feet over Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Sections of the US military and the Defense Intelligence Agency are keen to show the balloon debris publicly, but that hasn’t happened yet. The Biden administration has so far decided against sharing detailed information and is being accused of delaying the release of a report on the findings in order to stop relations with China deteriorating further.

Last month, Microsoft caught China spying on critical western infrastructure, and China-linked malware was spotted infecting USB drives. Chinese state-sponsored hackers are also exploiting known vulnerabilities in telecommunication network devices in an effort to spy on users in the US. It should therefore come as little surprise that the US government is mulling even tighter restrictions on AI chips going to China.