2023-07-21 16:38:43
The Chinese spy balloon that flew over North America earlier this year exposed major gaps in the United States’ ability to detect aerial threats and spurred the development of new surveillance technologies, the top US commander responsible for patrolling the skies told NBC News in an exclusive interview.
Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told “Nightly News with Lester Holt” that US surveillance capabilities have been strengthened with new technology since the balloon was detected off Alaska in late January.
“We weren’t looking for a high-altitude balloon at the time: 65,000 feet, very slow. Our radars are able to see it, but we were leaking that data,” he said recently in a wide-ranging interview at the Colorado Springs headquarters of NORAD, which monitors the skies over the US and Canada and responds to potential threats.
The Biden administration has come under fire for its handling of the Chinese surveillance balloon, first reported on by NBC News, with some questioning why it was allowed to fly over sensitive military sites on the US mainland, where it could gather valuable information on US defenses. The revelation that the Chinese were able to fly such balloons in US airspace without being detected by the US military also raised questions about an intelligence failure, prompting calls for more investment in the country’s air defense and radar systems.
China has apologized for the incident, however, alleging that the object was a civilian weather balloon that had gone astray.
For more information visit NBCNews.com.
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