Tag: spying

US military recovers electronic sensors from downed Chinese spy balloon

The US military recovered the electronic mechanism and key sensors — believed to be used for intelligence gathering — from the Chinese spy balloon shot down earlier this month, officials announced Monday.

“Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure,” the US military’s Northern Command said in a statement.

The giant balloon — which Beijing denied was a government device used for surveillance — was taken out by a US fighter jet off South Carolina’s coast on Feb. 4 after it hovered over the country for a week.

U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from the high-altitude Chinese balloon.
REUTERS
A U.S. Navy sailor assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 conducts a search for debris with an underwater vehicle during recovery efforts for the high-altitude Chinese balloon.
REUTERS


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U.S. Navy shows sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recovering more pieces of the surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach.
AP


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The parts were recovered from the ocean by Navy personnel in the days after.

Members of the FBI’s evidence response team have since been studying the remnants to assess how extensive its surveillance capabilities were, but didn’t have access to the majority of the balloon’s “payload” — its onboard electronics. The military now has possession of the critical electronics.

The discovery of the Chinese spy balloon led US officials to be on high alert for other potential foreign intelligence-gathering devices flying in US airways that were not detected by radar.

US military officials located and shot down three objects in just as many days over the weekend in an unprecedented move.


Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean.
Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean.
REUTERS

Federal authorities said little is known about the latest three objects, including how they stay aloft, where they are coming from and if they were also being used to spy on the US.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the objects were never a military threat to people on the ground, but were shot down because they could have been a risk to civil aviation and “potentially an intelligence collection threat.”


A map shows the path of the suspected spy balloon.
Associated Press

Austin added that US military teams have not yet recovered debris from the three objects shot down — which were significantly smaller than the Chinese spy balloon.

US officials have not said whether the three objects are connected to one another or believed to be coming from one source.

With Post wires

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TikTok offers to have third-party check if China spying on US users

TikTok has reportedly proposed to have an independent, third-party monitor check the social media app’s algorithms to determine if the Chinese government is accessing Americans’ user data.

As part of the reported plan, US-based tech entities such as Oracle would review the code governing how TikTok chooses the videos that users see and which videos are deleted.

The proposed reorganization is part of the ByteDance-owned app’s attempt to convince US lawmakers that it is not allowing Beijing to spy on American users of the popular video-sharing platform.

TikTok has also offered to create a subsidiary, TikTok US Data Security (USDS), which would report to an outside board of directors with a “primary fiduciary responsibility” to the US government, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The USDS would hire 2,500 people to monitor the app’s safety mechanisms. None of those hired would be Chinese nationals since the subsidiary would be beholden to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), according to the Journal.

CFIUS is a federal agency that operates under the auspices of the Treasury Department. It is tasked with reviewing transactions involving foreign investment in the US.

TikTok has been in talks with CFIUS for the past two years seeking to satisfy the Biden administration’s demands to implement safeguards that would protect Americans’ data from alleged spying.

A spokesperson for TikTok told the Journal: “We are not waiting for an agreement to be in place.”

TikTok has proposed a $1.5 billion reorganization that would allow third parties to monitor and safeguard the app’s algorithm.
Getty Images

“We’ve made substantial progress on implementing that solution over the past year and look forward to completing that work to put these concerns to rest.”

If no agreement is reached, the Biden administration could force ByteDance to sell off the US division of TikTok or it could outright ban the app from the US altogether.

Several governors have moved to ban state employees from using TikTok on their government-issued devices.

ByteDance has long denied allegations that TikTok conducts espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.

TikTok has exploded in popularity in recent years, particularly among Gen Z millennials who have migrated away from dominant social media rivals such as Facebook and Instagram.

It is estimated that TikTok has more than 700 million active users worldwide — some 100 million of whom are in the United States, an astronomical figure considering that the app had just 11 million American users in 2018, according to CNBC.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, told The Post: “Certain US politician’s comments are just groundless slanders.”

“The company concerned is a private enterprise that conducts business in the US in accordance with market principles and international rules and complies with US laws and regulations,” the spokesperson said.

“The US government should give it fair, just and non-discriminatory treatment.”

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