We Are All Safe Now: NORAD's Big Ass Surveillance Balloon Crashed After Breaking Free

The nightmare may finally be over.

A free-floating military balloon that wreaked havoc in the northeast has finally returned to earth.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Angela Bieber told the Baltimore Sun that the balloon had been "contained."

"It is no longer moving," she told the newspaper.

Here is the — Nikki Krize (@NikkiKrize)October 28, 2015

The 240-foot long military aerostat, or tethered balloon, broke loose from its mooring at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland in the early afternoon and floated more than 100 miles and as high as 16,000 feet over the northeast, the proving grounds' Facebook page said.

The balloon's cable reportedly brought down power lines in Columbia County Pennsylvania before descending near the town of Bloombsurg.

A viewer just sent us this photo from Bloomsburg. We are getting numerous reports of sightings in that area. — Jon Meyer (@JonMeyerWNEP)October 28, 2015

The balloon is part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, monitoring system that uses high-tech radars to scan the skies around Washington, DC to catch cruise missiles or drones that might target the capital.  Some Twitter users made light of the escaped balloon's flight over the US.

Latest photos of runaway — Powerwave20 (@Powerwave20)October 28, 2015

F-16 fighter jets had been following the balloon as it trailed around 6,700 feet of cable, a potential hazard not only for people and structures on the ground but other aircraft that might fly under it.

"Anyone who sees the aerostat is advised to contact 911 immediately," Aberdeen Proving Ground spokeswoman Heather Reeler said, the Baltimore Sun reported. "People are warned to keep a safe distance from the airship and tether as contact with them may present significant danger."

The aerostat is part of NORAD's Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, which can scan the skies up to 340 miles in any direction. The system can also track ships and vehicles.

The $2.7 billion dollar program has been controversial; the aerostats are unreliable, vulnerable to bad weather, and privacy advocates say the sensitive signals collection devices onboard could violate Americans' civil liberties.

Last month, the Baltimore Sun published an investigation that found that Pentagon officials determined that the blimps can't distinguish enemy from friendly aircraft and suffer from faulty software and other problems.

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Earlier this year, the test system failed to prevent 61-year-old Douglas Hughes from landing on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol after flying his gyrocopter through 30 miles of restricted airspace around Washington, DC, for example.

Two blimps are now in operation in Maryland. The Pentagon cancelled plans to expand their number to 28. "I tried to kill it," Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army's former vice chief of staff, told the newspaper.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained documents showing that JLENS — which was first used for in Iraq — could also one day be used to spy on Americans with eye-in-the-sky video cameras and other monitoring devices.

The army denied that the blimps would snoop on Americans.

"I can't stress enough there are absolutely no cameras or video equipment on board," Army Capt. Matt Villa told The Baltimore Sun last year. "Its radars cannot detect people, it does not store information."

Whether or not the blimps could eavesdrop on Americans, Scott said the incident with the blimp disconnecting from its mooring showed how JLENS is a waste of the Army's time and taxpayers' money.

"It's extremely costly yet largely ineffective," he said.

Yet Raytheon, the company that manufactures the blimps, is still preparing to dump more money into JLENS. The defense contractor is now advertising a job on LinkedIn for a "Watch Stander" at Aberdeen to keep an eye on the blimps and presumably keep them from floating away.

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