Pentagon: Chinese Spy Balloon Failed to Gather Intel Over US

According to the Pentagon, the Chinese spy balloon shot down by a US fighter aircraft over the Atlantic in February did not gather information while flying over the US.

According to our current assessment, it did not collect when it was overflying or crossing the United States, according to Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder.

Ryder said that the US “took steps to mitigate” balloon-based intelligence gathering.

Without providing any other details, Ryder only said, “Certainly the efforts we made contributed” to it.

In late January and early February of this year, a huge balloon carrying a substantial payload of electronics crossed over the United States from Alaska in the northwest to South Carolina in the east, passing over sensitive military installations and raising fears that Beijing was gathering crucial intelligence.

The US military retrieved it from the Atlantic Ocean after it was shot down on February 4 close off the coast of South Carolina. Since then, they have been examining its contents.

As a result of the event, relationships between Beijing and Washington have become more strained. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a long-planned trip to China in February that was meant to strengthen the two countries’ ties.

China said the balloon had drifted off track and into US airspace, and denied using it to gather information.

A US officer at the time said that the balloon contained many antennae, including an array that was probably capable of gathering and geolocating communications.

The official said that the vehicle had solar panels that were “large enough to produce the necessary power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors.”

The White House downplayed the whole balloon incident earlier this month, right before Blinken’s delayed trip to Beijing, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping.

President Joe Biden stated, “I don’t think the (Chinese) leadership knew where it was, knew what was in it, and knew what was going on.”

Biden added, “I believe that was more humiliating than it was deliberate.