美国国家公共电台 NPR--Senate panels are briefed on surveillance balloon and other floating objects

Senate panels are briefed on surveillance balloon and other floating objects

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, about the classified briefing on the floating objects that have been shot down.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Who exactly has been sending flying objects over the United States, and what exactly is their purpose? We are not likely to answer those questions this morning, though we'll do the best we can. We do know the United States shot down one balloon that China admits to sending. As for other objects shot down in recent days, an actual news headline this week said, quote, "White House Rules Out Aliens." Not a headline I expected to see. But the United States has yet to say who is sending these objects. So Senator Mike Rounds joins us next. He's on the Senate Intelligence Committee and Armed Services Committee. So he's been getting briefings.

Senator, welcome back to the program.

MIKE ROUNDS: Well, good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you.

INSKEEP: What kind of information does the United States have about these things?

ROUNDS: Well, you basically just shared everything that we can talk about publicly. We do know that, you know, China has acknowledged that the balloon - to begin with - that it's a communications balloon, or it's a balloon designed to basically intercept² and, you know, listen in on us, gather data. We're fairly certain about that. It's not a weather balloon. And it's one that could be steered³ to some degree but basically floats on the wind currents in that high-altitude area, above - designed, you know, to operate at about 60,000 feet, which basically, for the most part, is above most commercial flights. Other than that, we know that we have other objects, but we don't know where they're - you know, who the owners of those objects are.

INSKEEP: Do we know - or do you know - what the function was? To the extent that you can say publicly, did they appear to have any capability⁴ of any kind?

ROUNDS: At this point, we're really not talking about any other data that's been collected on those other objects and, in part, because anything that would be released right now would be basically best guesses. We haven't found the leftovers⁵ yet. We haven't found the debris⁶ yet.

INSKEEP: Right.

ROUNDS: Once we find the debris from where they've been shot down - and they're actively⁷ looking for it at this time in all of those locations. But what they want to do is - going to look at it and then be able to figure out where it came from, who was operating it and so forth⁸.

INSKEEP: To the extent that you can say, do you believe the United States can effectively rewind the tape here, by which I mean go back through satellite imagery or radar⁹ readings from past days and trace an object back to its source?

ROUNDS: In some cases. Honestly, look; here's the deal with the balloon. They're very slow. And in many cases, the type of radars¹⁰ that we use are designed specifically and they're set up to catch high-speed items, items that - or that are a little bit larger or that are at different altitudes. If you got something which is really slow moving, it might have been, you know, similar to a flock of birds or a large bird. And a radar, in many cases, is designed to eliminate that type of background. So you can specifically identify those items that are moving at a higher speed, you know, things that we normally would consider something that could be threatening to our national defense¹¹.

And what they've been able to do is to go back into the radar data that they've got and basically take out some of the filters and look at other items. And in doing so, they've been able to identify these particular items that are up there that are very small in many cases, and they can look at them. And if you were looking at them normally, you might have thought they were something that was natural. It might have been a very large bird or something like that. And so you would have phased those out. So that's one of the reasons why we're now seeing these items - you know, a whole lot of them in a very short period of time. We've simply enhanced the capability or taken out some of the filters that eliminate some of these items that are very slow moving.

INSKEEP: Oh, that raises another interesting question. Juliette Kayyem, an analyst¹², former security official, wrote in The Atlantic that these objects likely have been coming all the time. It could be that this is a phenomenon that's years old, but now we're noticing more because we've dialed up surveillance. Do you think that's right?

ROUNDS: We can't rule that out. At this stage, we can't rule that out. Whether this is information - whether it's benign¹³ in nature or whether it's simply, you know, semi-commercial operations that have been floating around for a while from someplace else in the world - we just simply don't know where they were coming from at this point. We really need to find the debris, and then we can basically, you know, learn where they're coming from.

INSKEEP: In about 10 seconds, is this keeping you up at night?

ROUNDS: Not really. I think it's really good that we're identifying the need to be able to enhance our radar. That might mean that we're going to need more capable radars in the future. Clearly, we have to stay on that part of our game.

INSKEEP: South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

ROUNDS: Thank you, sir.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

3 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

5 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

6 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

7 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

10 radars   

n.雷达( radar的名词复数 )；雷达装置

参考例句：

• Servos for large radars and launchers are either electro-hydraulic or all-electric. 大型雷达和发射装置的伺服系统，不是电动-液压式的，就是全电动式的。 来自辞典例句
• Range-velocity simultaneous pull-off is one of effective measures for countering PD radars. 距离-速度同步拖引干扰是对抗PD雷达的有效方法。 来自互联网

11 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

12 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

13 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。