China has no compunction about seizing non-military vessels from international waters:
news.usni.org
Not long, if the PRC is to be believed:
Maybe they were referring to the Roosevelt Administration? ;-)Anonymous source on this happening before ?
It was a DoD press release.
.https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3287173/dod-statement-on-high-altitude-surveillance-balloon/
www.defensenews.com
That is interesting to read! A friend of ours is heavily involved in this process and has been down there the last few weeks. I remember hearing a quote that one of the news reporters said "the govemment says it's easier to recover over water anyway" and thinking to myself, for who? I asked him about that and he had nothing but some 4 letter mutterings to offer. It's been quite the challenge it sounds like!Great read about the process!
Navy divers use typical skills in odd mission — recovering a balloon
Navy divers may not be trained to recover downed spy balloons, but EOD Group 2 had all the tools it needed to accomplish a mission this month.
www.nbcnews.com
Surprise. Didn’t see that one coming. Sigh.Chinese balloon got intel from U.S. military sites, despite efforts to block it
The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel.
