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| Snowden Documents Reveal Scope of Secrets Exposed to China in 2001 Spy Plane Incident |
| 2017-05-26 |
| [TheIntercept] In April 2001, just months before the 9/11 attacks gripped the nation, a U.S. Navy spy plane flying a routine reconnaissance mission over the South China Sea was struck by a People’s Liberation Army fighter jet that veered aggressively close. The mid-air collision killed the Chinese pilot, crippled the Navy plane, and forced it to make an emergency landing at a Chinese airfield, touching off a tense international showdown for nearly two weeks while China refused to release the two-dozen American crew members and damaged aircraft. For more than a decade, U.S. officials have refused to say what secrets China might have gleaned from the plane. Two years after the incident, journalists saw a redacted U.S. military report, which revealed that although crew members had jettisoned documents out an emergency hatch as they flew over the sea and had managed to destroy some signals-collection equipment before the plane fell into the hands of the Chinese, it was "highly probable" China had still obtained classified information from the plane. Attempts by journalists and academics to learn more over the years have been unsuccessful. But now, a comprehensive Navy-NSA report completed three months after the collision, and included among documents obtained by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, finally reveals extensive details about the incident, the actions crew members took to destroy equipment and data, and the secrets that were exposed to China -- which turned out to be substantial though not catastrophic. Long article. |
| Posted by:Herb McCoy7309 |
| #2 Why that plane landed instead of ditching has never ever been explained. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2017-05-26 09:12 |
| #1 We seem to have a serious problem with not having the capability to destroy critical components and information in both spy planes and drones. |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-05-26 01:26 |