Leaked Pentagon docs show the shot-down Chinese spy balloon may have had a feature known as 'synthetic aperture radar' that can see through certain materials, WaPo reports
Hannah Getahun Apr 16, 2023, 12:44 AM

The shot-down Chinese spy balloon may have had synthetic aperture radar, the Washington Post reports.
The technology has the ability to observe objects in the dark or through clouds.
SAR is used around the world by organizations like NASA and the European Space Agency.

In February, a high-altitude balloon with surveillance capabilities connected to China flew over the continental US before being shot down over the Atlantic.

At the time, much about the balloon wasn't known publicly, but a new trove of Pentagon documents leaked on Discord show it — and up to four other previously unknown spy balloons like it — could have had a feature known as "synthetic aperture radar" that can see through certain objects, the Washington Post reported.

Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old US National Guard airman, was arrested Thursday in connection to the leaks.

US intelligence agencies believed this because the balloon, which officials named Killeen-23 in an apparent reference to 1940s mobster Donald Killeen, was equipped with the ability to generate up to 10,000 watts of solar power — enough to power a typical home — which could support such abilities.

"The amount of solar power generated by the panels on the Chinese stratospheric balloon that NSA named Killeen-23 is excessive for a weather balloon," the document reads.

Synthetic aperture radar is the solution to the problem with real aperture radar, which cannot create high-resolution images without an impractically large antenna. SAR "synthesizes" a large antenna, but the concept is the same — it releases bursts of electromagnetic energy to an object on Earth, and a sensor then records the wavelength of energy it receives back, according to NASA. These sensor readings then allow the radar to create a reconstruction of whatever objects are below the energy beam.

Because SAR isn't taking photos and is instead using electromagnetic data to create a high-resolution image, the technology can "see" in the dark, as well as through clouds, smoke, soil, and rain. It can also help with three-dimensional reconstructions, unlike cameras, which can only capture what is openly visible from above.

The technology, invented in 1951, is used all over the world by science organizations like NASA and the European Space Agency to observe the earth's topography.

It is also used in war to spy on adversaries. Recently, a Canadian satellite operator helped Ukraine by providing SAR imagery to officials. The imagery allowed Ukrainian officials to monitor Russian troop movements during inclement weather and cloudy days.

The documents also reveal that certain functions of the balloons are still unknown to US intelligence, as certain sensors on the device are labeled as "unidentified" in photos.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Discord Leaks Reveal Chinese Spy Balloons Are Named For Mob Bosses
Matt Novak
Contributor

Apr 14, 2023,11:01pm EDT

Whitey Bulger, Donald Killeen and Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo were all big names in organized crime during the 20th century. But they’re also the names given to Chinese spy balloons by U.S. intelligence, according to documents leaked on Discord over the past few months.

The Washington Post has a fascinating new report about various Chinese spy balloons that U.S. authorities were tracking before the balloon that captured national attention back in February. The revelations are part of the documents allegedly leaked by a 21-year-old IT worker with the U.S. military on the messaging platform Discord.

And while the presence of previously undisclosed spy balloons is certainly interesting in and of itself, the unique nature of the Discord leaks means we’re getting a peek behind the secretive curtain at U.S. intelligence agencies which includes details that would normally only be revealed decades later, if they were revealed at all.

One Chinese spy balloon, dubbed the Bulger-21, was named for Whitey Bulger, the organized crime boss who evaded authorities for decades before being caught in 2011. Bulger died in prison in 2018. The Bulger-21 circled the globe from December 2021 until May 2022 and carried “sophisticated surveillance equipment,” according to the Washington Post.

A leaked document about Bulger-21 includes a photograph taken by the spy balloon, though it’s not clear how U.S. intelligence obtained the image. The documents all originated with intelligence agencies that don’t get much attention in the press but are considered vital to U.S. military interests, like the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Another Chinese balloon, called the Killeen-23 by U.S. intelligence agencies, was named for Donald Killeen, a South Boston crime boss who was murdered in 1972. Killeen-23 contained a “parabolic dish measuring 1.2 meters in diameter,” but its image collection capabilities were apparently still a mystery.

Another spy balloon, Accardo-21, was named after Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo, a Chicago crime boss who died of old age in the early 1990s. The Accardo-21 reportedly carried a “foil-lined gimbaled” sensor, though the Post story doesn’t include enough contextual information to explain what that would be used for.

Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who held a Top Secret clearance, allegedly leaked these documents, among plenty of others, to a private server on Discord called Thug Shaker Central, starting late last year. Teixeira was arrested on Thursday and he’s been charged with improper handling and distribution of classified documents.

While outlets like Bellingcat, the New York Times and the Washington Post broke the story of Teixeira’s Discord activity, he was reportedly tracked down by the FBI through billing information he gave to Discord. Maybe U.S. intelligence agencies will some day name a spy balloon for Teixeira. But for now, he’s going to be sitting in jail probably wishing things had turned out differently.