Interesting developments in the stratosphere of late. High altitude balloons are simply a good idea. Cheaper than satellites, disposable, unexpected, unidentified flying objects.

Brilliant.

Most of the political noise is just that. A reason to complain. I think it was smart to monitor the first balloon until it was safe to bring it down and recover. We probably learned a ton of info just watching it. How to detect it. Is it communicating? How does it maneuver? Using altitude adjustments to catch different winds? How does long term modelling of the jet stream play into this? Because that's what they are surfing. Where are they launched? Can citizen reports of UFO's be useful in detection? What are the payload capabilities? Enough for a military device? I suspect government meteorologists are getting calls.

Now, how to build a robust defense. Does this go the new Space Defense Branch? How would a laser work on these?

Yeah, complicated. Still waiting for details on the latest Alaska incident. It appears to be different. And could be a hoax.