U.S. military and intelligence agencies tracked the Chinese spy balloon for nearly a week before it violated American airspace last month, according to a new report.
As the U.S. monitored the balloon, it appeared headed for the U.S. territory of Guam. But the balloon was seemingly blown off course and instead ended up over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands before ultimately floating over the continental United States, the Washington Post reported.
U.S. officials are considering the possibility that China did not intend to send the spy balloon over the continental United States, but instead took advantage of the balloon being blown off course to surveil sensitive locations in Montana.
The balloon was launched from Hainan Island as part of a program run in part by the People’s Liberation Army air force. U.S. officials tracked the balloon, which was partly directed by air currents and partly piloted remotely, as it may have been blown off course by strong high-altitude winds.
While intelligence officials are unsure if the flight path was intentional, they are confident the balloon was intended for surveillance and that the decision to hover over sensitive nuclear sites in Montana was not accidental, according to the report. The balloon could have been intended for U.S. military installations in the Pacific, which have previously been the targets of Chinese espionage.
The balloon entered U.S. airspace on January 28 and was ultimately downed by the U.S. military on February 4 off the Carolina coast.
Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Monday that President Joe Biden’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon was an “enormous mistake” that caused “global shame.”
“The whole world saw a slow-moving balloon transiting Montana, Kansas, South Carolina — and the United States of America did nothing,” the former CIA director added.
Several Republican lawmakers called on the U.S. to shoot down the balloon days before it was ultimately downed. The military waited to take down the balloon until it was over water off the coast of South Carolina due to concerns from the Pentagon that the action could cause civilian casualties if it was carried out elsewhere on the balloon’s flight path.
The balloon was part of a larger surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army, U.S. officials said. The program has collected information on military assets in a number of countries, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, U.S. officials told the Washington Post.
The Japanese Defense Ministry “strongly suspects” Chinese spy balloons have entered the country at least three times in recent years: once in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Reuters reported this week. It was not immediately clear how Japanese officials determined that the balloons originated in China.
“We will put more effort than ever into information gathering and surveillance activities against balloons, including unmanned ones for foreign espionage,” the defense ministry said in a statement.