“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 US 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.
China has sent surveillance balloons over the United States in the past. However, this one has lingered in US airspace much longer.
The US has “engaged” Chinese officials through multiple channels and communicated the seriousness of the matter, Associated Press reported.
The Chinese foreign ministry and the Chinese embassy have not publicly commented.
US officials became aware of the balloon earlier in the week. Reuters reported that the balloon had been tracked near the Aleutian Islands and Canada before entering the United States.
Unlike satellites, which require space launchers that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, balloons can be launched cheaply. But the technology doesn’t offer any intelligence-gathering capability beyond what China’s low-orbit satellites already provide.
Balloons are not directly steered, but can be roughly guided to a target area by changing altitudes to catch different wind currents, according to a 2005 study for the Air Force’s Airpower Research Institute.
A technician works at a launch facility near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana. File photo: US Air Force via AP
Retired US Colonel Steve Ganyard told ABC News that it was possible the balloon drifted, rather than being nefariously deployed. He said intentionally deploying a spy balloon over the US would be highly provocative, with little value.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said the balloon was currently travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic.
“It does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Ryder said in a statement.
US Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said the spy balloon was alarming but not surprising.
“The level of espionage aimed at our country by Beijing has grown dramatically more intense & brazen over the last 5 years,” Rubio said on Twitter.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would request a “Gang of Eight” briefing, referring to a classified national security briefing for congressional leaders and Republican and Democratic leaders of the intelligence committees.
The Pentagon in Washington DC. Photo: Agence France-Presse
The balloon’s presence comes amid slowly simmering tensions between the United State and China on numerous issues, ranging from Taiwan and the South China Sea to human rights in China’s Western Xinjiang region and the clampdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong.
On Thursday, CIA Director William Burns called China the “biggest geopolitical challenge” currently facing the United States.
The incident also comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was supposed to make his first trip to Beijing, expected this weekend, to try to find some common ground. Although the trip has not been formally announced, both Beijing and Washington have been talking about his imminent arrival.
Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press
