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US says Chinese spy balloon downed in February did not collect information US says Chinese spy balloon downed in February did not collect information
(about 3 hours later)
The craft was shot down by the US military off the Atlantic coast on President Biden’s orders earlier this year The craft was shot down by the US military off the Atlantic coast on the president’s orders earlier this year
A Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this year before being shot down did not collect information as it went across the country, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The Chinese spy balloon shot down by a US fighter jet over the Atlantic in February did not collect intelligence as it flew across the United States, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“We assess that it did not collect while it was flying over the US,” Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder told reporters. “It’s been our assessment now that it did not collect intelligence while it was transiting the United States or overflying the United States,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder.
The balloon spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before the US military shot it down off the Atlantic coast on Biden’s orders. Ryder said the US “took steps to mitigate” intelligence collection by the balloon.
More soon … “Certainly the efforts we made contributed” to that, Ryder said, without further explanation.
The huge balloon with a large payload of electronics flew over the United States from Alaska in the northwest to South Carolina in the east from late January to early February this year, crossing above sensitive military installations and prompting concerns Beijing was scooping up vital intelligence.
It was shot down on 4 February just off the South Carolina coast, and was recovered from the Atlantic ocean by the US military, which has been studying its contents since.