[kube-system]

I would imagine that if these are small and hard to detect, you may not want everyone to understand the exact extent of your capability to detect them.

The first balloon didn’t have this consideration because it could be seen from the ground.

[ALittleLight]

This seems like an argument to not shoot them down. If we can identify and track them then obviously we can determine their speed. If we can fly by with fighter planes then we can get a visual look. I don't see how we'd be giving anything away about our capabilities by sharing these things.

[kube-system]

Yes, although the actions reveal different things. Shooting it down establishes that your capabilities are good enough to do so. But sharing more detail about how you detected or observed it may reveal the limits of your capability. Or it may reveal advanced capability that an adversary is heavily relies on you not being capable of.

Your enemy only needs to be slightly better than your capabilities to beat you. If they can judge it accurately, they can more efficiently spend resources to counter your ability. If they misjudge, they either waste a ton of time and money, or they end up outmatched.

It’s like a game of poker. Those who are good at strategically releasing partial information are at an advantage.