{"id":1151194,"date":"2023-02-14T18:12:02","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T23:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/chinese-balloon-did-a-lot-of-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul\/1151194\/"},"modified":"2023-02-14T18:12:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T23:12:02","slug":"chinese-balloon-did-a-lot-of-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/chinese-balloon-did-a-lot-of-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul\/1151194\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Balloon &#8216;Did A Lot Of Damage,&#8217; Says House Foreign Affairs Chair McCaul"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/chinese-balloon-did-lot-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" alt=\"\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"05e9684c-7388-416b-a59b-241b003447e5\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/GettyImages-1231633909-700x420.jpg?itok=KpmXDX1I\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Chinese Balloon &#8216;Did A Lot Of Damage,&#8217; Says House Foreign Affairs Chair McCaul<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/chinese-balloon-did-a-lot-of-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul_5053908.html?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge\" rel=\"noopener\">Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Chinese high-altitude balloon that passed over the United States at the start of February \u201cdid a lot of damage,\u201d <\/strong>according to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview on CBS\u2019s \u201cFace The Nation\u201d program, McCaul said <strong>the Chinese balloon was a \u201csophisticated <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-spy-balloon\" rel=\"noopener\">spy balloon<\/a>\u201d that \u201cwent across three nuclear sites\u201d<\/strong> as it floated over the United States from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4. McCaul specifically noted the balloon passed over nuclear bases in Montana, the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), and a base that hosts nuclear bombers in Missouri.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the balloon passed over Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana and Offutt Air Force Base. Malmstrom is home to U.S. nuclear missile forces. Offutt is home to STRATCOM, which is tasked with detecting and deterring attacks against the United States and its allies, including nuclear strikes. The balloon also flew near Whiteman Air Force Base, which hosts the nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit stealth bombers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">While the Defense Department says it mitigated the damage caused by the Chinese spy balloon that passed over several sensitive U.S. military sites, House Foreign Affairs Cmte. Chair Rep. Michael McCaul says, \u201cGoing over those sites, in my judgment, would cause great damage.&#8221; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pnPjjeOj2W\" rel=\"noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/pnPjjeOj2W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FaceTheNation\/status\/1624849157306343426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"noopener\">February 12, 2023<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201c<strong>It did a lot of damage<\/strong>,\u201d McCaul said of the high-altitude balloon\u2019s flight path. The balloon passed over the various U.S. military sites before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact is, whether it be the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ntd.com\/top-us-general-says-chinas-suspected-hypersonic-missile-test-a-sputnik-moment_694637.html\" rel=\"noopener\">hypersonic weapon<\/a> they\u2019ve made that circled the world and landed with precision, to the spy balloon, we have to stop selling them the very technology that they use in their most advanced weapon systems that they can turn against us,\u201d McCaul added.<\/p>\n<p>Recent reports have indicated the Chinese government has bought <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ntd.com\/report-us-tech-boosts-chinas-hypersonic-missiles_860239.html\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S.-produced software products<\/a> for use in its hypersonic missile programs. In recent years, U.S. officials have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ntd.com\/fbi-chief-says-china-stole-sensitive-data-for-use-in-ai-program_896266.html\" rel=\"noopener\">accused<\/a> Chinese spies of stealing key technologies, and lawmakers have been considering laws to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ntd.com\/u-s-doubles-down-on-protecting-university-research-from-china_574390.html\" rel=\"noopener\">curb China\u2019s access<\/a> to sensitive U.S. defense programs.<\/p>\n<h2>US Military Says it \u2018Mitigated\u2019 Balloon\u2019s Surveillance<\/h2>\n<p>U.S. defense officials have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Transcripts\/Transcript\/Article\/3288618\/senior-defense-official-and-senior-military-official-hold-an-off-camera-on-back\/\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> they \u201cmitigated\u201d the balloon\u2019s intelligence-gathering capabilities during its transit over the U.S., though they did not specify what means were used to block or reduce the balloon\u2019s ability to transmit sensitive data back to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-china\" rel=\"noopener\">China<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Officials in President Joe Biden\u2019s administration have also said<strong> they took measures to mitigate the balloon\u2019s ability to gather data<\/strong>. On Feb. 9, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2023\/02\/09\/press-gaggle-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-en-route-tampa-florida\/\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> the military was able \u201cto protect any national security, sensitive information, that was on the ground as [the balloon] was moving on its path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCaul shared his doubts about those mitigation efforts during the CBS interview.<\/p>\n<p><em>Read more <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/chinese-balloon-did-a-lot-of-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul_5053908.html?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>here&#8230;<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a target=\"_blank\" title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" lang=\"\" class=\"username\" xml:lang=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Tue, 02\/14\/2023 &#8211; 21:25<\/span><\/p>\n<p>From:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/chinese-balloon-did-lot-damage-says-house-foreign-affairs-chair-mccaul\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Chinese Balloon 'Did A Lot Of Damage,' Says House Foreign Affairs Chair McCaul\" rel=\"noopener\">Zerohedge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese Balloon &#8216;Did A Lot Of Damage,&#8217; Says House Foreign Affairs Chair McCaul Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Chinese&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1151194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1151194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1151194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1151194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1151194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}