Pentagon Tracking Chinese Spy Balloon over U.S.
AFP
The Pentagon said Thursday that it was tracking a Chinese spy balloon flying high over the United States that appeared to be surveilling highly sensitive nuclear weapons sites.
At President Joe Biden’s request, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top military officials considered shooting the balloon down but decided doing so would endanger too many people on the ground, a senior defense official told reporters.
The official said the balloon flew over the US northwest where there are sensitive airbases and strategic missiles in silos underground.
“Clearly, the intent of this balloon is for surveillance, and the current flight path does carry it over a number of sensitive sites,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the Pentagon did not believe it constitutes a particularly dangerous intelligence threat.
“We assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective,” the official said.
The balloon entered US airspace “a couple days ago,” the official said, adding that US intelligence had been tracking it well before that.