Float Over

The art of floating a surveillance balloon over your adversary’s country to spy on ICBM sites while claiming it is a weather balloon. Popularized by Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS)

First detected by passengers on a commercial flight, the Chinese Ministry of State Security did a “float over” of a bus-sized surveillance balloon over the northern continental US to spy on ICBM sites all the while claiming it was a weather balloon gone astray.