NBC: China's balloon shot down over the United States used an American provider

 

Representatives of American intelligence established that the Chinese spy balloon, shot down over the United States in 2023, used an American Internet provider for communication and navigation. This is reported by NBC News.

Two active employees of the American intelligence community that the balloon was connected to the provider in the United States. Through it, the device sent data to China and received navigation instructions in response.

The high-speed connection allowed the balloon to send packet transmissions for short periods of time. Several former White House officials told NBC News that Chinese intelligence officials in the past secretly used commercial service providers in various countries, often as backup communication networks.

The FBI and the Director of the Office of National Intelligence refused to comment. Representatives of the Pentagon said that, according to the intelligence services, the balloon was unable to transfer intelligence back to China before it was shot down.

Liu Pengyu, representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, reiterated Beijing's official position. According to him, we are talking about a weather probe that accidentally flew into U.S. airspace.

The incident with the Chinese balloon occurred in February 2023. The device entered U.S. airspace and was shot down. In the same month, in the use of reconnaissance balloons over five continents. Beijing rejected such statements.