A Chinese spy balloon flies over the continental United States. As it headed over Montana, civilian flights were grounded in the area and advanced F-22 fighter jets were lifted off.
The Washington Post he says:
The balloon's flight path takes it over "sensitive locations," a senior Pentagon official said, but it does not appear to have the ability to gather more information than China's other spy tools, such as low-orbit satellites. However, the Pentagon is taking steps to prevent Beijing from gathering additional information.
"We have taken certain actions in case the decision is made to take it down," the official said.
"So we wanted to make sure we coordinated with civil authorities to clear the airspace around that area. But even with these safeguards in place, our military commanders report that we have not reduced the risk if a shot is fired low enough. So we didn't do it."
"The US believes that China's low-orbit spy satellites are capable of collecting similar or better information, limiting the value of the information Beijing can glean from a high-altitude balloon the size of three buses." reports CNN.
Nevertheless, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy call for information the “Gang of Eight” – the group of lawmakers tasked with examining the country's most sensitive information.
