![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
04-02-2023, 06:12 PM
The Chinese balloon is hardly alone in watching America from the sky
If the Chinese stratospheric balloon spotted floating about a dozen miles above the northern United States is indeed a spy craft, as the Pentagon claims, it’s hard to believe that it was meant to chart its course in secrecy. After all, it’s a giant balloon. If anything, it was more likely dispatched precisely for the purpose of being seen.
As U.S. officials were quick to note on Thursday, the balloon is unlikely to have gathered any novel intelligence that China couldn’t already have accessed by other means. Yet the balloon has captured something just as precious: our attention.
This makes the incident an important lesson about both the power and increasing pervasiveness of aerial surveillance technology.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...ncreasing/
If the Chinese stratospheric balloon spotted floating about a dozen miles above the northern United States is indeed a spy craft, as the Pentagon claims, it’s hard to believe that it was meant to chart its course in secrecy. After all, it’s a giant balloon. If anything, it was more likely dispatched precisely for the purpose of being seen.
As U.S. officials were quick to note on Thursday, the balloon is unlikely to have gathered any novel intelligence that China couldn’t already have accessed by other means. Yet the balloon has captured something just as precious: our attention.
This makes the incident an important lesson about both the power and increasing pervasiveness of aerial surveillance technology.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...ncreasing/
