Given the rapidly-changing nature of this topic, we decided to publish this episode before our regularly-scheduled release date of Thursday. In this episode, we discuss the outcry in Washington about the Chinese surveillance balloon discovered floating over Montana and the cancellation of US Secretary of State Blinken’s trip to Bejing. We touch on the technical capabilities (and limitations) of balloons as surveillance platforms. We explore what these developments mean for increasingly strained US-China relations, particularly in the wake of the announcement of expanding US military access to bases in the Philippines and the AUKUS submarine deal with Australia. As we recorded this episode, the US announced American military pilots shot down an object off the Alaskan coast. Since recording this episode, the US has now shot down two additional craft,  one over Canada and the other over Lake Huron.