So, it turns out the Chinese spy balloon drifting — potentially still being steered by China — across the United States is not the only nefarious surveillance operation happening in our hemisphere.
According to Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Department of Defense is "seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America" and "now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon" as of Friday night.
🎈🚨 Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder: "We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon."
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) February 4, 2023
Ryder's statement given to multiple media outlets is as vague as he was during a Friday afternoon press briefing in which he refused to disclose the exact location of the first spy balloon that's been over the United States and will be for the next few days as it traverses the continental United States.
But "Latin America" doesn't exactly provide enough detail to discern which other country China could be looking to spy on, nor does it indicate where this second spy balloon was before Friday night's disclosure.
Latin America encompasses everything from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America so... where is this second balloon? CNN reported that a "US official" the second balloon "does not appear to be currently heading to the United States," but that doesn't rule out the chance it was already here unnoticed or unannounced.
Is the second spy balloon over Mexico after turning south following surveillance of California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas? That would be alarming given the number of military installations in those states. Or is the balloon somewhere in Argentina or Brazil, which would be less of an immediate concern to the United States and our security, but still worrisome.
It is, of course, in the Biden administration's best interest to leave as much detail out as possible given the criticism Biden has taken for his decision to simply watch the Chinese surveillance payload pass over the continental United States, and that's likely why Biden and his crew are almost always running afoul of their promise to be the most transparent administration in history.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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