The incident, first reported by NBC News, prompted a series of unusual events as the balloon was observed Wednesday over sparsely populated Montana, officials said. The state is home to numerous U.S. nuclear missile silos.
Senior military officers, including Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised against [shooting down the balloon], citing concerns that falling debris could put people and property at risk, the senior official said.
The balloon’s flight path takes it over “a number of sensitive sites,” this official said.
Also of interest is this about prior Chinese surveillance of U.S. territories outside the North American continent, surveillance that spanned "several years."
[S]imilar balloons, carrying guidance systems on board, have been detected previously over Hawaii and Guam, a U.S. territory that houses substantial American military assets.
The presence of missile silos in Montana is reminding me that many are also present in my home state, Arkansas. This, it seems, suddenly makes sparsely populated places of interest and value--if only because strategic defense systems have been sited in them. I assume that the sparse populations and cheap land are primary reasons for the decisions to site this sensitive--and potentially dangerous military infrastructure--in these rural places.
The Washington Post story notes similar national security concerns in Montana's neighbor to the east, sparsely populated North Dakota:
China’s brazen surveillance effort coincides with recent warnings from the U.S. Air Force over proposed Chinese land purchases in North Dakota about 12 miles from a military facility where drone test flights are conducted. The pending deal for a corn milling site has fueled concerns that the purchase is a cover for Chinese surveillance activities. A U.S. interagency committee decided last year it did not have jurisdiction to oppose the sale.
Air Force Assistant Secretary Andrew P. Hunter took an unambiguous view in a letter released earlier this week by North Dakota’s senators.
“The proposed project presents a significant threat to national security,” it says, “both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area.” The senators called for the project to be discontinued.
Here's a somewhat humorous quote from the New York Times coverage of the surveillance balloon:
On the ground in Montana, Jeffrey Sherlock, a retired state district court judge in Helena, agreed that the balloon was a “provocative” move. But he also expressed wonder that the Chinese would have been interested in his part of the country.
“I can’t believe they are spying on Billings, Mont.,” he said. “There’s not much there.”
This recent post similarly speaks to the conflict between rural development and the risk of Chinese surveillance or influence.
1 comment:
This blog reminds me of the importance that rural states have in our Union. Much of rural states play a pivotal role in our nation's defense. And what many people forget is how much land the federal government owns, especially in rural states west of the Mississippi River. For example, around 82 percent of Nevada's land is owned or governed exclusively by the federal government. Not only do they hold a key place for our nation's defense, but what many people also forget is the federal government's role in land preservation and management. Much of rural land west of the Mississippi is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, as well as other agencies under the Department of the Interior. Part of this deals, as noted in this blog, with the number of nuclear missile silos and other national defense bases. The other parts deal with land that is critical for cattle grazing and national parks and reserves, not to mention the governance of the several tribes that are under the protection of the Department of the Interior. All in all, the Chinese spy balloon saga reveals the importance of rural areas not just in our nation's defense, but also the critical infrastructure that sustains our nation's food and water resources.
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