Flash Report 02 FEB 2023 17:30 PST - Military Spy Balloon? (Patreon)

NORAD has monitored a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon over the United States for the last two days, including passing over multiple sensitive areas as far inland as Montana. Warplanes with the United States Air Force continue to shadow the balloon.

Reportedly United States President Joe Biden wanted the balloon shot down, with the Pentagon advising him that risk/reward was too much risk for civilian collateral damage from falling air defense debris.

A senior defense official told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has “very high confidence” it is a Chinese high-altitude balloon, and it was flying over sensitive sites to collect information.

Another defense official said this activity has been happening for "several years," and the United States has elected to have a non-intervention policy. In an interesting plot twist, some military analysts are apparently saying the United States has similar technology.

We have no intelligence on where the balloon was deployed, but looking at archival information for the jet stream on January 31, 2023 at 250 mb, the balloon would have likely taken a course over the Canadian province of British Columbia before drifting into the United States, likely over Montana.