The United States took ‘custody’ of a suspected Chinese spy balloon when it entered U.S. airspace and had observed it with piloted U.S. military aircraft, officials said
The news initially broke as CIA Director William Burns was speaking at an event at Washington’s Georgetown University, where he called China the "biggest geopolitical challenge" facing the United States."The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters.
One U.S. official said the balloon was assessed to have "limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective."next week for a visit agreed to in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was not clear how the discovery of the spy balloon might affect those plans. Relations between China and the United States have soured in recent years, particularly following then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August, which prompted dramatic Chinese military drills near the self-ruled island.A balloon flies in the sky over Billings, Montana, U.S. February 1, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media. Chase Doak/via REUTERSSince then, Washington and Beijing have sought to communicate more frequently and prevent ties from worsening.U.S.
"But even with those protective measures taken, it was the judgment of our military commanders that we didn't drive the risk down low enough. So we didn't take the shot."Billings resident Chase Doak, who filmed it on Wednesday, said at first he thought it was a star. A separate U.S. official said the balloon had been tracked near the Aleutian Islands and Canada before entering the United States.
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