The Defense Department said that an intelligence-gathering balloon, most likely launched by the People’s Republic of China, was flying over the United States, during an unplanned press briefing on the evening of January 2.
A high-altitude surveillance balloon is currently over the continental United States, according to Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary. NORAD and the United States government are keeping a close eye on it.
There is no danger to civil aviation, according to Ryder, because the balloon is high enough above commercial air traffic. Also, he mentioned that this isn’t the first time a balloon of this type has been spotted in American airspace.
Despite the mobilization of fighter jets, President Joe Biden reportedly accepted military leaders’ advice to not shoot the balloon out of the sky out of concern that the resulting debris could endanger civilian communities.
From the perspective of collective intelligence gathering, “we assess that this balloon has limited additive value,” the official said. However, we are taking precautions to prevent sensitive data from being collected by foreign intelligence agencies.
Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in November that Blinken would visit China the following week. As of yet, it was unclear how the discovery of the spy balloon would affect those schemes.
