Classified documents leaked onto a Discord server by a now-arrested U.S. national guardsman suggest that the U.S. government was cognizant of four alleged Chinese spy balloons, in addition to the one that was shot down off the South Carolina coast in early February.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, Jack Teixeira, 21, was taken into custody last week for allegedly obtaining classified national defense materials and sharing them on an invitation-only Discord server he set up for fellow video gamers.
The documents indicate that U.S. military intelligence officials gave coded designations to the five balloons based on historic American criminals, like Tony Accardo, James “Whitey” Bulger, and Donald Killeen. The balloon shot down in February was dubbed “Killeen-23,” The Guardian reported.
If true, such revelations could give more fodder to members of Congress who have accused President Joe Biden of not taking Chinese espionage seriously and withholding information about the alleged spy balloon’s violation of U.S. airspace, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
“We have consistently learned more from press reports about the Chinese surveillance balloon than we have from administration officials. … I intend to hold this administration accountable,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) earlier this month, per NBC News.
February’s balloon traversed the United States, from Alaska to the Carolinas, reportedly flying over multiple military sites, occasionally maneuvering to retread old ground and repass over sensitive defensive installations, all under the control of the Chinese military.
The Washington Post appears to have broken the story about U.S. knowledge of the other balloons, noting that the leaked documents stated that one alleged spy balloon flew over a group of American naval vessels in an incident that was not publicly disclosed.
Equipped with sophisticated surveillance technologies, the balloon may have been driven by Chinese operations around the world before conducting intelligence operations on an American naval squadron below. The document indicating this information was dated February 15, 2023, more than a week after Killen-23 was shot down, The Washington Post reported.
The news outlet’s reporting suggested that at least Killeen-23 was capable of running off enough power to collect significant amounts of data and transmit it back to China.
