comment: >
  
  ““Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information…” I feel like a big sheet might do the trick or a pin?
context: Someone please make a Chinese version of "99 Luftballons" >
  
  This person got it started. >
  
  Can somebody inform me what a balloon can do that a spy satellite can’t? >
  
  Probably airborne sensors. This thing is the size of three buses w/ a sizable observation bay. Deep ground penetrating radar from space has limits due to high orbit and the transition from space to atmosphere. Something that big probably can emit strong enough radar burst to get good look at deep underground military installations . Also just testing our response time and where our fighters would take off to intercept said balloon for North American defense. >
  
  F-22’s were specifically scrambled to observe the balloon because they have the highest service ceiling (65,000 feet) of any of our fighter jets. So that spy balloon must be way the fuck up there. I think this incident was more about testing the capability of our fighter aircraft. No doubt it was keeping record of how fast NORAD reacts and how quickly a jet would be in the sky and within range to intercept/observe it. >
  
  I heard, mother fucker had like, 30 god damn balloons >
  
  He’ll kick you apart. He’ll kick you apart! ooo. >
  
  He'll save children, but not the British children >
  
  I heard he once stuck an opponent's wife's hand in a jar of acid >
  
  at a party >
  
  He made love like an eagle falling out of the sky, but he killed his sensei  in a duel and never told us why. >
  
  Time to dust off the old Bloons Tower Defense >
  
  Wow that brought me back >
  
  Those games keep getting released. BTD6 is a banger. >
  
  Seconded. We talmbout heated boomerangs?
  enter GLAIVE DOMINUS 
  great game. 
  Jus some monkeys throwin darts at balloons >
  
  They forgot we have camo detect villages >
  
  Which become the all important MIB. >
  
  Manchurian Intelligence Balloon >
  
  I live in BIllings, Montana and this is pretty crazy thing to have alerted in your phone. Thought it was a prank honestly >
  
  What did the alert say? That must have been surreal >
  
  "DONT LOOK UP" >
  
  “NOPE” >
  
  Tracking it...?
  Why don't they just drone swarm it until it deflates? >
  
  Balloons can reach far higher altitude than any drone. Typically over 100k ft. >
  
  If they don’t shoot it down how do they do that? >
  
  Balloon vs balloon dogfight ending in a grappling hook boarding maneuver.
  They have to fly in the air force's best balloon dogfighting aces first.
  As you can imagine, not many exist. >
  
  Can confirm, am a retired veteran of the 3rd balloon war. >
  
  Thank you for your service and may you never suffer deflate. >
  
  I can never go to birthday parties anymore. Anytime one of the balloons pop, i remember a fallen comrade. >
  
  We're sending up another balloon with a pokey stick attached, case closed >
  
  This sounds like the best possible WW3 >
  
  Ballon jousting settles WWIII is the timeline we all need >
  
  Not gonna lie, this sounds like a plot device in an Austin Powers reboot. >
  
  "It looks like a giant ball..."
  "...Sack! That's right, I want you to sack the quarterback! Hurley! What're you looking at?" >
  
  "Coach I think I see.."  
  "...the family jewels on display tended to by curators at this museum for over 30 years. Hey something is blocking out the sun. I think it's a..." >
  
  "Teabag! 
  Excuse me Waitress, can you get me another teabag? Mine broke inside the mug..."
  "Certainly sir... Wow, take a look out the window! That looks just like my husband's..." >
  
  "Nuts! You have to be nuts to try that jump Carl! Come on ski with me, let's try the smaller one over there first."
  "Hold on, what is that up in the sky?"
  "Wow, that looks exactly like my..." >
  
  "Coin purse! He took my coin purse! Helllllp!!!!... Woah. I haven't seen that since Harold popped out his..." >
  
  "Junk!"
  "Junk, Ozzy?"
  "They're using the same fuckin' junk joke as they did the last time."
  "What fuckin' joke?"
  "You know, the fuckin' joke about the spy balloon that looks like some guy's..." >
  
  "Two vegetables?"
  "No, I said I want three. I haven't eaten in hours!"
  "You sure you wouldn't rather order the..." >
  
  "Frank and Beans?"
  "That sounds delightful!.... Oh my, would you look at that?! It looks just like my Uncle's....." >
  
  BALLS!!! Boys get those balls in before it starts to rain. OH MY GOD what's that in the sky it looks just like two big... >
  
  goodnight table
  goodnight moon
  goodnight high altitude chinese spy balloon >
  
  Goodnight stars
  Goodnight air
  Goodnight new form of aerial warfare >
  
  Goodnight room
  Goodnight cow jumping over the moon
  Goodnight blinking light, in the red balloon >
  
  Goodnight cow
  Goodnight moon
  Goodnight blinking red light in the room >
  
  Goodnight noises everywhere. >
  
  And goodnight old broad in the rocking chair >
  
  The proper response >
  
  It's actually a battlebus >
  
  Ima drop in texas. >
  
  It's funnier to acknowledge we know about it and NOT shoot it down, because we already hacked it. >
  
  Live footage of the NSA cryptographers right now >
  
  Live footage of the Chinese military right now >
  
  This is great but I was really disappointed that they completely left out the super troopers enhance...djeiwodhebtofidue... Enhance...jdjdheieodjrbrbeixoxork... Enhance! >
  
  Just print the damn thing! >
  
  There are checking for inflation >
  
  People are blowing up about it >
  
  it is allegedly the size of three buses and has a technology bay >
  
  Can we catch it? Maybe there's something useful inside. Or wait until it's over the middle of nowhere. >
  
  This comment put a hilarious image in my head of a giant weather balloon just meandering along slowly in the sky and then you zoom out and see the US has deployed their own weather balloon with a gun attached to float along behind it to try and shoot it down. 
  Cut to the Chinese and US crews on the ground in their headquarters with flashing warning signs shouting at each other in a panic, cut back to the balloons in the sky, silently bobbing along in slow motion.
  Edit: Leslie Nielsen plays the agent in charge of the US operation. >
  
  Just duct tape a knife to a drone and save on bullets. >
  
  This is America, we don't save on bullets. >
  
  You're right, we should make a knife that shoots bullets >
  
  That is so fucking stupid and entirely misses the point. What we need is a gun that shoots knives. >
  
  Kind of already exists but in missile form. >
  
  That’s super impressive as far as precision technology goes but it’s definitely no knife-gun. I’m almost as disappointed as when I found out what tomahawk missiles really are. >
  
  Honestly, these gender reveals gone awry are just happening too often. >
  
  This is a hidden agenda reveal >
  
  I love when reddit armchair experts think they know better than the top brains of US intelligence, lol.
  If they think it's not worth it to shoot it down, then they're probably right. Both US and China have plenty of spy satellites watching each other. >
  
  Fun fact. Nixon used CIA agents for the Watergate scandal and they got detected by a security guard at the hotel lmao. >
  
  Actually, Forrest Gump made the initial call to security >
  
  Was that before or after he drank 15 Dr. Peppers? >
  
  After the 15 Dr Peppers, before he showed his ass to the President >
  
  Prob the most exciting thing to ever happen in Montana >
  
  ♬ 99 spy balloons
  Floating in the summer sky
  Panic bells, it's red alert
  There's something here from somewhere else
  The war machine springs to life
  Opens up one eager eye
  Focusing it on the sky
  The 99 spy balloons go by ♬ >
  
  This is what we've waited for, this is it boys this is war >
  
  /The President is on the line /   /
  /                   /As 99 red balloons go by 🎸🎼🎹/ >
  
  When you opt for drone delivery from Wish instead of Amazon >
  
  Actual photo here. >
  
  "Oh bother!" >
  
  They're doing a fentanyl drop. >
  
  98 more and we'll have a problem >
  
  luftballon! >
  
  bass synth intensifies >
  
  Find a cat. Make a suit so the cat can survive high altitudes. Make sure to modify the suit so it's claws can still be used. Tie cat to a drone. Fly that cat towards the balloon. Balloon pops. We hold a parade for the cat.
  You guys don't have to thank me, I take pleasure in coming up with solutions. >
  
  Ladies and gentlemen your new secretary of defense. >
  
  Can we please stop the ominous events marathon this decade? >
  
  This could be the premise of an episode or a subplot of an episode for the rebooted King of the Hill show. Dale goes off about the Chinese spying on us. A spy weather balloon gets shot down over Arlen. Bill is able to recover one of the camera boxes and subsequently bonds with and hides it from the others, leading to an ET esque ending where Hank and Co have to both make sure Bill isn't charged with Treason whilst also humoring his loneliness by not just destroying the box. There would even be a blinking light on the camera that Bill seems to think is the spy at the other end talking and listening to him >
  
  I say we retaliate with our own balloons. >
  
  1, 2, 3, 4.
  I declare balloon war. >
  
  how do we know its a Chinese spy balloon and not just some garage experiment? >
  
  The article also says it's probably a science experiment gone awry >
  
  It did say that, until the article was edited to omit that fact because fear mongering and chauvinism gets more clicks. Consent manufacturing machine goes brrrrrrr. >
  
  Someone get Tom Brady out there to let some air out of it. >
  
  He’s retired. >
  
  Uncle Rico it is then >
  
  You want to see him throw a football over them mountains? >
  
  Next time China cries about US flights in South China Sea... Just imagine the shitstorm they would have if we did this. >
  
  Lmao thanks for posting the article in a misleading way OP.
  Last part of the article.
  
  Military expert's view  
  Ganyard predicted the balloon was an experiment gone awry.  
  Such balloons are not controlled after their release and while they are normally equipped with mechanisms to deflate over an open area, the mechanisms can fail, Ganyard said. So it's possible the balloon would have drifted over from China after multiple days, rather than being nefariously deployed.  
  China intentionally deploying a reconnaissance balloon over the U.S. would be highly provocative, with little value, Ganyard said, noting that Chinese satellites are able to collect information in a similar manner.
  
  Edit: These fearmongering mofos edited their article.... saving a photo from GMA so it's not lost >
  
  I might be stupid but i didnt see that in the article, am i blind? >
  
  JFC, they actually did. Propaganda machine at work in real time >
  
  The US COMPETES Act allocated 500 million dollars for propaganda specially against China, and that's not the only allocation. There's lots of it about. >
  
  Why use a spy balloon when they have tik tok? >
  
  Different data points. 
  Balloon provides geographical information. Response of military. Response of local media. 
  tik tok provides movement of every registered user and potentially those they come into contact with. As well as mass data too find "high target" people and to understand their daily GPS/route habits. >
  
  Pretty sure if we set up a bunch of Wal-Mart box fans and point them west it should just blow it out into the ocean. >
  
  ☝️ Thinker! >
  
  For the people shouting, "THIS IS OUR AIRSPACE! SHOOT IT DOWN OR MERICA WILL LOOK WEAK!" Here is the smallest example idea of how counterintelligence works. There are many possible scenarios let's go over a basic one. 
  US intelligence gets wind of a Chinese spy plot to use a high altitude surveillance balloon in the coming weeks.
  US assets in the Chinese military and / or US spies are contacted to discreetly learn more.
  US intelligence and national security experts discuss various options such as
  
  
  Let it slip that the US knows about the program, causing China to likely shut it down
  
  
  Prepare an immediate response as a show of strength/ rapid response capabilities.
  
  
  Feign ignorance and prepare counter intel measures.
  
  
  So feigning ignorance is the most beneficial option. We can prepare and make sure no vital info will be gained by our enemies, while our countermeasures net us valuable Intel and insight by maybe monitoring what data is being gathered and stored, as well as who or where it's being sent to. 
  After the Chinese balloon is discovered, we choose to sandbag a confused response, throw our hands in the air, and cry about how upset and exposed we are. Make statements about future preparations blah blah.
  Sometimes, the smartest thing to do is simply not act and let things play out. 
  For a classic example of this, look up Alan Turing and the Enigma Code. He deciphered Nazi communication codes and that gave allied forces a massive leg up. But he also understood that if we thwarted every Nazi ploy, that they would know we had cracked the code... So the decision was made to simply lose certain battles, soldiers died, ships and planes were lost, all to maintain the appearance that the code was still intact. That's counter intelligence, that's how wars are won.
  Hell, I'd say the fact this is a headline almost proves we had advance knowledge. Otherwise, the government would just stifle this type of news in the name of national security.
  Truth is we (the public) don't fucking know, but what we do know is that we don't have universal healthcare for a reason. That reason being we spend a whole fuck load on defense, and although it's possible, it's not probable that we knew nothing of a giant, poorly engineered, not even slightly camouflaged, slow moving balloon, sending out random signals, within our basic radar monitoring capabilities, thwarted our various military and intelligence branches...
  So keep calm, carry on, and distract yourself with Budlite, gun-shows, and the Super Bowl >
  
  The problem is a vast majority of Americans are fucking ignorant and scared, and that creates impulsive and down right dumb decisions and conclusions to be made. Which is why we have a multi tier government and why every major position in the US government have loads of Aides and personnel to help guide and make decisions. Our citizens may be a little stupid. But our government sure isn't. >
  
  All you need now is a monkey with a dart >
  
  How are we sure it’s Chinese? >
  
  It says “made in China” in the back >
  
  Doesn't everything nowadays? >
  
  Congress: alright Pentagon, how many trillions you want now. >
  
  Why Chinese? Any message painted on the balloon? >
  
  It was an Estes Rocket >
  
  Two-stager >
  
  That's funny. Why don't they just use Google earth tho? >
  
  if they use it they get arrested for using banned websites lol >
  
  The Twitter comments are hilarious, bemoaning the U.S. military for not shooting it down. I am sure that they are much better judges of the value of the spy balloon than the average Twitter user. Maybe they can get good information by tracking it and then capturing it. >
  
  its definitely sending/receiving whatever information its getting so it would be beneficial for us to intercept those messages to figure out the intent behind this balloon. >
  
  How did it get all the way to Montana without detection? >
  
  When they shoot it down there is just a ringing phone inside when they answer it : We’ve been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty. >
  
  I’m guessing China just sent those balloons over to find out what the response would be more than anything else, they’ll have hundreds of people poring over news and social media, the best thing to do is probably just ignore it >
  
  Pretend to ignore it. >
  
  “Northern US” so definitely nuclear areas of North Dakota lol >
  
  me in north dakota: 😣 >
  
  US should definitely try to capture it. >
  
  They will, but are probably feeding it counterintelligence. Signal interceptor most likely, not arial photography . >
  
  It's the MLB. Anyone seen Mark McGwire lately?