U.S. secret documents leaked online revealed that "a Chinese balloon flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier, while another crashed in the South China Sea." The Washington Post, citing recently leaked U.S. intelligence documents, reported that "the actual capabilities of the Chinese balloon that flew over parts of the United States in the past two months continue to raise questions among U.S. intelligence agencies." According to the leaked documents, "intelligence agencies were aware of several other Chinese balloons."
The newspaper noted that "the leaked documents mention that the balloon that flew over the United States this year, referred to as 'Killeen-23' by U.S. intelligence agencies, carried a variety of sensors and antennas whose nature the U.S. government could not determine." It added, "According to another secret document, another balloon flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier group in the Pacific in an incident that had not been previously reported."
The leaks indicate that "one document prepared by the U.S. intelligence agency dated February 15 contained the most detailed governmental timeline to date for 'Killeen-23' and two balloons from previous years, named 'Bulger-21' and 'Accardo-21'." According to the newspaper, analysts in U.S. intelligence concluded that "the balloon that flew over the country could generate enough power to operate any surveillance and intelligence technology, including a type of radar that can see at night." The New York Times previously reported that a new portion of U.S. secret documents concerning Ukraine, China, and the Middle East had been leaked online.
