Page 625 - Capability News Today

To -- to our adversaries. >> so, as weve been talking about tonight, a pentagon spokesperson says they have been tracking a high altitude chinese surveillance balloon over the continental united states for the past several days. now, the united states has decided against shooting it down saying it doesnt present any military or physical threat to people on the ground. the pentagon says its not the first incident of this kind over the years, but what do you make of it? >> well, it raises a lot of...

Is a very important message to send to our adversaries. >> as we have been talking about tonight, a pentagon spokesperson says they have been tracking a high altitude chinese surveillance balloon over the continental united states for the past several days. the united states has decided against two to get down, saying it doesnt present any military or physical threat people on the ground. the pentagon says its not the first incident of this kind over the years, but what do you make of it? >> it ...

Alluding there to russias nuclear weapons capability? i am not alluding to anything, i say we will solve the worth whatever that means and the result. and i assume we have all kinds of possibilities, i hope we will not be using all these possibilities. but our western partners or enemies or whomever theyre or ramming the door. i promise you, we will come back to that discussion and further that might involve weapons of mass destruction, we will come back to that but before we get there, lets sti...

Very important for the united states to be taking whatever steps are necessary in order to be able to deal with whatever threat china represents. >> and there are more steps as well. theres also this new u.s. base in guam, increased military cooperation with to japan. how do you expect for china to react to all the activity in the region? >> theres no question theyll be nervous. we have not only improved our position in guam, we are in the process of improving our position in japan as well, in o...

It represents a real step in improving our capability in the pacific. >> do you believe the u.s. government is hoping that the u.s. support for ukraine and something of a blueprint of what the u.s. might do for taiwan if war were to break out there? and do you think china would give any second thoughts about attacking because of it? >> i dont think theres any question that she jinping is paying attention to whats happening in ukraine. and thats one of the reasons its so important for the united ...

Capture the equipment and understand what they are doing. are they taking pictures? are they intercepting signals? what are they doing and what is the level of technical capability? it will tell us about what they are trying to learn and what their capability is of doing that. failing that, i would definitely shoot it down provided there is no risk to people on the ground. >> so you are surprised that this is hovering over the continental u.s.? >> absolutely. not just the continental united stat...

Perspective, they have the capability using satellites and they do, as a matter of fact, gather intelligence through some pretty sophisticated satellites that move over our country. in addition to that, they, obviously, have drone capability as well. so the question then becomes, why a balloon? and, you know, its tough to answer that question. is it a sophisticated camera of some sort that is able to pick up more sensitive information? we dont know the answer to that. and so i think we have to t...

From man with an unrivaled resume, former defense secretary, former cia director, former white house chief of staff, leon panetta. grateful for your time. i want to start with the capability questions and pull out and get to the big picture of why or what this is about. in terms of capability, based on your experience at the cia and at the pentagon, does the united states, first and foremost, have any military capability to get up to 60,000 feet and capture this balloon? i assume that would be t...

U.s. air space and international law. >> we know this is a chinese balloon and it has the ability to maneuver. >> its definitely moving. >> reporter: the balloon is headed east at 60,000 feet and will be over the u.s. for several more days the pentagon says, though, officials not confirming the location. >> the public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is. >> reporter: the balloon was first spotted in montana on wednesday down through the middle of the coun...

Mr. secretary, that this balloon has, indeed, some surveillance capabilities that the united states is not aware of? >> well, thats the other thing. you know, as former director of the cia, i think its important for us to find out exactly what kind of surveillance technology was aboard this balloon. they were using it to gather intelligence. they were able to ba nooufr this over some fairly sensitive sites in this country. i think we have every right to know what exactly was on that balloon and ...