China says its looking into report of spy balloon over US

News Summary

  • The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.The defense official said the U.S. has assessed that the balloon has “limited” value in terms of providing intelligence that couldn’t be obtained by other technologies, such as spy satellites.
  • A senior American defense official told Pentagon reporters Thursday that the U.S. has “very high confidence” that the object spotted over U.S. airspace in recent days was a Chinese high-altitude balloon and that it was flying over sensitive sites to collect information.
  • The senior defense official said the U.S. prepared fighter jets, including F-22s, to shoot down the balloon if ordered.
  • Biden was briefed and asked the military to present options, according to a senior administration official, who was also not authorized to publicly discuss sensitive information.
  • The visit has not been formally announced, and it was not immediately clear if the balloon’s discovery would affect his travel plans.
  • One of the places the balloon was spotted was Montana, which is home to one of the nation’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
BEIJING (AP) China said Friday it is looking into reports that a Chinese spy balloon has been flying in U.S. airspace and urged calm, adding that it has no intention of violating the territory and ai [+6113 chars]