US admits it tracked Chinese spy balloon from launch

The U.S. government’s story on the Chinese spy balloon is changing again. This week, the Pentagon revealed it was tracking the suspected Chinese spy balloon from its launch site along China’s south coast, and was monitoring it days before it crossed into U.S. airspace near Alaska.

U.S. officials watched the Chinese spy balloon lift off near China's south coast.

They watched it move toward Guam.

They watched it turn toward Alaska.

They watched it fly over our entire country.

And after all that, the Biden Administration’s still not being honest about it.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 15, 2023

Several U.S. officials said Tuesday the government is now looking at the possibility the Chinese were trying to spy on U.S. military facilities in the Pacific, like Guam or Hawaii. But an errant cold front apparently caused the spy balloon to veer off course, and the Pentagon thinks the Chinese government took advantage of the opportunity to gather more intelligence about U.S. military installations.

While weather may have pushed the balloon off course, the U.S. said China decided to pilot the balloon into the airspace over the U.S. mainland. According to a report from the Washington Post, the balloon “was partly directed by air currents, and partly piloted remotely. With propellors and a rudder, [the balloon had] the capability to be maneuvered.”

Once it entered U.S. airspace, the balloon slowly drifted across the U.S. mainland. The Pentagon said the balloon didn’t gather any sort of information that wouldn’t also be available to the Chinese through their array of spy satellites. On Feb. 4, President Joe Biden gave the order to shoot down the spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

The U.S. military is currently analyzing the recovered pieces of the balloon, which include critical electronics and large pieces of the vessel itself. Three other objects were shot down over North America since the Chinese spy balloon incident, but the Pentagon said it thinks those objects were benign.

The U.S. government sanctioned six Chinese entities tied to the balloon. Beijing criticized the sanctions.

The spy balloon fiasco forced U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his trip to China. But Blinken is now reportedly considering a trip to Germany to meet with China’s top diplomat this week.

Reuters contributed to this report.