SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A Chinese balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend, after floating its way across parts of the United States.
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It's still unclear what the exact purpose of the balloon was, as it is possible to collect intelligence through other ways, like satellites.
"It had more symbolic significance," said Bruce Jentleson, a professor of public policy and political science at Duke University and former foreign policy advisor under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on KCBS Radio's "Ask an Expert" with Margie Shafer and Eric Thomas on Monday.
"We've read spy novels, we've seen movies and TV shows," he said.
"The balloon seemed to fit all of that."
"The Chinese have been doing this for a long time," said Jentleson. A number of these types of balloons came over to the United States during the Trump administration, he added.
But whatever intelligence or information might be gleaned from this type of balloon doesn’t hold a candle to what can be gathered through satellites in outer space.
The national security implications are a bit more complicated.
"A lot of the critics of President Biden just assume when something like this happens you shoot first and think later," said Jentleson.
Biden first consulted with the military and his foreign policy advisors – to get information about what was going on and what it was capable of.
In the meantime, they jammed the balloon so it wouldn’t be able to gather more information than it already had.
"Then they assess what would be the consequences of shooting it down," he said. The benefits and drawbacks of shooting it down over land, over water, and how shooting it down would impact relations with China.
But it's still unclear what the intention was for the incident.
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