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A comment on U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Department activities.

Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by thepasswordis on Saturday February 11, 2023 @10:47PM (#34759510)
The Montana Governor was briefed at The White House about this tonight

https://mobile.twitter.com/GovGianforte/status/1624596970491...

>I received a briefing tonight at the White House about an object in Montana airspace. I will continue to receive regular updates.

>With questions about the Chinese spy balloon still unanswered, the Biden administration must be fully forthcoming with Montanans and all Americans.

One of Montana's house reps said:

>I am in direct contact with NORCOM and monitoring the latest issue over Havre and the northern border. Airspace is closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic — the DOD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning.

https://twitter.com/RepRosendale/status/1624579901608034306

Something is definitely happening. We shot down an object over Alaska yesterday, and then again today we shot down yet another object over Canada.

That's three objects shot down in about a week, whereas the last time we shot anything down over US airspace was arguably during WW2.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by auctoritas on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:38PM (#34759817)
The government and military must be more forthcoming with information here. This is generally the case but especially so now. If these are balloons with unclear origin and purpose, be open and honest about that. Don't just let information trickle out from random sources. Establish a single and authoritative line of communication. Failing to get ahead of the narrative gives the appearance of uncertainty and confusion.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by ProAm on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:52PM (#34759918)
> The government and military must be more forthcoming with information here.

No, we do not need need social media arm chair quarterbacks dealing with national defense based issues....

> Establish a single and authoritative line of communication.

None of this affect most citizens they have no need to be informed unless necessary.

> Failing to get ahead of the narrative gives the appearance of uncertainty and confusion.

Politics in war time is always messy. Lets let them focus on the task at hand.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by bboygravity on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:36AM (#34761096)
> Politics in war time is always messy. Lets let them focus on the task at hand.

Or: without "messy" politics (political censorship and manipulation of the people) you can't have wars.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by ProAm on Sunday February 12, 2023 @09:49AM (#34763179)
In an ideal world absolutely. But war and violence is foundational bedrock of humanity, it will never go away.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by tommica on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:55PM (#34766842)
In that case, maybe humans should go away then
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by ahtihn on Sunday February 12, 2023 @05:08AM (#34761604)
> None of this affect most citizens they have no need to be informed unless necessary.

It's always necessary to keep citizens informed. The government and by extension the military exists to serve citizens.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by bryananderson on Sunday February 12, 2023 @12:25AM (#34760114)
This is exactly what they have said about e.g. the Alaska object. “Here is the approximate size. It didn’t appear maneuverable. We do not know what it was, who it came from, or what it was doing.” I agree that being open about what we don’t know is a good thing and builds trust.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by psychphysic on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:00AM (#34760876)
I just got off a weekend Nightshift and am back on in 12 hours I hope to spend sleeping.

Is this aliens? I don't have time to deep dive this myself.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nonethewiser on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:10AM (#34760937)
Of all the ways aliens might contact us, I dont think it will be launching balloons from earth.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by psychphysic on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:13AM (#34760948)
Okay im going to sleep, I leave a glass of water out anyways. Hopefully it keeps me safe.

If you're wrong about this and I survive an alien invasion you'll be slated in my tell-all nonethewiser.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by CSSer on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:24AM (#34761022)
Don’t forget the baseball bat.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by zoomablemind on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:09AM (#34762238)
> ...I leave a glass of water out anyways. Hopefully it keeps me safe.

Leave chocolates, it may be Cupid ... though no guarantee that it'll make your heart safe, just hopefully it'll be a sweet encounter.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by belter on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:49AM (#34762440)
For the ones who missed the water reference...

https://youtu.be/GHR2tPW5PLg

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by Eupraxias on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:58AM (#34762487)
Please keep this kind of stuff off Hacker News - this isn't Reddit.

One of the main benefits of this site is that one doesn't have to waste time pushing through reams of clever references.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by godelski on Sunday February 12, 2023 @05:10AM (#34761616)
Is that not what is happening? They may just have less information because it is night and harder to get a direct visual on the object. The whitehouse briefing suggests more but I don't think it is wrong for them to take some time to answer to the public. I'd rather a slower and thought out response than a quick one with misleading information. You can see in the public responses that people respond with stupid statements either way. Compare this thread to the one earlier today about Canada, the one yesterday, the big balloon, or even the UFO thread. Conspiracies and armchair experts abound just creating noise. The reuters article, your comment, and the tweet in the parent all seem within a few hours of the actual event. Let's take a breath before we grab pitchforks. If they don't answer in a day or two then I'll be happy to grab my pitchfork too, but some pause is good.

Edit: another user posted a twitter link to someone claiming they saw the object. This does not look like a balloon and I completely can understand why there is a slower response here (I have no reason to distrust this twitter user) https://twitter.com/0rangeandwhite/status/162460072656239001...

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by irthomasthomas on Sunday February 12, 2023 @11:22AM (#34764037)
I have no reason to distrust this twitter user

Why would you automatically trust a random twitter user? Or was that a joke that flew over my head?

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by ttymck on Sunday February 12, 2023 @11:36AM (#34764155)
Twitter video looks like a starlink train
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by golemotron on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:03PM (#34759592)
Did the Governor of Montana just happen to be in DC or was he summoned there?
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by thepasswordis on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:06PM (#34759602)
He was in Washington, D.C. for the National Governors Association Winter meetup: https://mobile.twitter.com/NatlGovsAssoc/status/162447350615...
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nradov on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:42PM (#34759858)
Technically the federal government has no legal authority to "summon" state governors. All they can do is request and invite.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by dboreham on Sunday February 12, 2023 @04:02AM (#34761256)
Fun fact: governor of Montana used to run a software company, so perhaps he's reading this.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by rocketpastsix on Sunday February 12, 2023 @10:03AM (#34763307)
he also body slammed a reporter, so lets not give him too much credit
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by tekknik on Monday February 13, 2023 @10:50AM (#34775028)
given the rhetoric coming out of some reporters mouths/hands i’m surprised we don’t see more attacks
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by wolverine876 on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:12PM (#34759634)
> Something is definitely happening.

A social media misinformation storm?

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by spacephysics on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:20PM (#34759695)
What’s misinformation about this? Honest question, I think the facts aren’t misinformation, that the US has shot down foreign aerial objects.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by luxuryballs on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:54PM (#34759932)
that’s what I’m saying, surely the government and military would never lie to the public
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by Aperocky on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:57PM (#34759954)
Could have been there's always been plenty of aerial objects floating around, but it is now politically expedient to do something about it.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nonethewiser on Sunday February 12, 2023 @03:20AM (#34760994)
Do you actually think that's the case?
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by krisoft on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:01AM (#34762194)
I actually do. It is dirt cheap to do (on the scale of national budgets) and can provide extra intel.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by ttyprintk on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:41AM (#34762383)
Fox has latched onto the tethered surveillance balloons along the US-Mexico border as a symbol of Federal attention on the trickle of people.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by Aperocky on Sunday February 12, 2023 @09:24AM (#34762995)
There are no such thing as high altitude tethered balloon, but I'm not surprised that Fox ran with it.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by tekknik on Monday February 13, 2023 @10:53AM (#34775082)
They in fact said aerostatic and low altitude but it’s good to see you getting your facts before complaining about misinformation.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by 65a on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:20PM (#34759691)
What is the misinformation?
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by krapp on Sunday February 12, 2023 @05:45AM (#34761810)
We know there is misinformation, because social media and mainstream media are well established at this point as platforms for disinformation, propaganda and psychological operations by various interests. We can assume for the sake of argument that we're being lied to about something, the only open questions are what about, by whom and to what end.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by SketchySeaBeast on Sunday February 12, 2023 @08:15AM (#34762580)
All media has been a platform for disinformation. The question I have for you is if everything is a lie how could you possibly believe that you can come to a correct answer about your open question? Even you lie to yourself.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by wolverine876 on Monday February 13, 2023 @02:20AM (#34770999)
The issue is not that you are being lied to, but that you are spreading lies.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by ttyprintk on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:42AM (#34762399)
China has labeled the multitude of balloons as US-Japan misinformation. I haven’t heard a denial, though.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by uoaei on Sunday February 12, 2023 @02:09AM (#34760626)
Based on some unconfirmed Twitter videos that claimed to be of the sky above Montana, it may have been something travelling in the upper atmosphere or even space that may have been destroyed or broken up at altitude.

https://twitter.com/0rangeandwhite/status/162460072656239001...

Interestingly, none of the reports state that the US or allies engaged or shot down the object.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by paganel on Sunday February 12, 2023 @05:04AM (#34761588)
> Something is definitely happening. We shot down an object over Alaska yesterday,

A balloon invasion, looks like it.

On a slightly more serious note, I had read yesterday somewhere on Twitter that that thing over Alaska might in fact have been a US meteorological balloon, which would explain the Americans not accusing the Chinese again after they had shot it.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by JCM9 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @05:53AM (#34761851)
You’re missing one of the key strategic reasons… that it was a huge embarrassment to China on the international stage.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nix23 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @07:47AM (#34762420)
Was it? Because a -->balloon<-- was already over US mainland. I would say the embarrassment is on US side for not shooting/detecting it down much earlier.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by wil421 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @08:09AM (#34762541)
Why? They said in the beginning they didn’t want to shoot until it was off the coast. Biden planned shooting it down once it was off the coast again. It was planned days in advance and I’m not why they would risk hurting someone. IMHO a death would cause much more media outrage.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nix23 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @08:11AM (#34762548)
Shooting it down when it enter us-waters? You know before it entered land?

>IMHO a death would cause much more media outrage.

Perfect! Chinese-killer-balloon kills US-Citizen on it's on US-Ground, FOX would love that!

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by wil421 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @08:16AM (#34762589)
Not sure what you mean. The first one had already passed Alaska and a good part of Canada before it was picked up by the news. Meaning it been over land for a good amount of time.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nix23 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @08:42AM (#34762754)
>Meaning it been over land for a good amount of time.

That's what i mean. Why not shoot it down when it enters US-Waters...BEFORE it's over US-Land, is that so hard to understand?

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by craftsman on Sunday February 12, 2023 @09:37AM (#34763082)
(a) they wanted to shoot it down in a location in which it would be easily recoverable, and (b) they didn’t want to risk damaging persons or property.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nix23 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @02:28PM (#34765978)
>they didn’t want to risk damaging persons or property.

In Alaska...please shut up.

>they wanted to shoot it down in a location in which it would be easily recoverable

Like yesterday the car sized ufo in alaska?

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by wbl on Sunday February 12, 2023 @12:12PM (#34764557)
For the same reason we'll let a suspected spy in sometimes or not expell them: by watching we can learn a lot about what they care about.
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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by nix23 on Sunday February 12, 2023 @02:33PM (#34766041)
It's a balloon with instruments, not a human.

You are comparing two completely different games and you know it.

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by loginthrowaway on Sunday February 12, 2023 @11:21AM (#34764022)
Something like this happened already, you sound like an idiot:

https://www.history.com/news/japans-killer-wwii-balloons

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Re:U.S. FAA closes some airspace in Montana for Defense Depa... by antifa on Monday February 13, 2023 @07:27PM (#34783231)
I don't really get the vibe that China cared. But we have 2 derailed trains and so far the media has given more attention to weather balloons instead.
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