Chinese spy balloon incident
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The Chinese spy balloon incident was a 2023 controversy over a high-altitude balloon that crossed U.S. airspace and was widely labeled in media coverage as a "Chinese spy balloon." John Kiriakou says no U.S. government official ever officially confirmed the balloon was engaged in espionage, the label came entirely from media outlets, and that he personally believes it was likely a weather balloon, since the U.S. already has satellite surveillance sophisticated enough to read license plates on individual cars, making balloon-based spying unnecessary.

The NASA weather balloon anecdote

Kiriakou illustrates the ordinariness of high-altitude balloon sightings with an anecdote from a commercial flight from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. Flying over Arizona at 30,000 feet, the pilot announced a weather balloon at 150,000 feet and banked the plane so passengers could see it, an enormous, silver object the pilot identified as one of NASA's weather balloons, adding that in 25 years of flying it was the first one he had personally seen.

See also

- Mass Surveillance
