Biden's Plan For Stopping The Next 9/11? – Balloons – Be Afraid, Very, Very Afraid. (andmagazine.substack.com)

In the early days of the Cold War, before spy satellites, the U.S. Air Force launched high-altitude balloons carrying cameras and let them drift over the Soviet Union snapping pictures. This was judged a safer alternative to flights by manned aircraft. Ninety percent of the balloons either crashed or were shot down by the Russians. It wasn’t the most efficient way to gather intelligence.