Chinese 'Spy' Balloon

China has expressed its "strong dissatisfaction and protest" against the United States' decision to shoot down its high-altitude balloon, accusing it of ...

Pentagon officials earlier this week said the balloon posed no “military or physical” threat. “Both balloons also carry surveillance equipment not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research,” the official said. “China clearly asked the US to handle it properly in a calm, professional and restrained manner. “This was a PRC (People’s Republic of China) surveillance balloon. Zhuang Guotai was the head of China Meteorological Administration until Friday, but his departure from that post was not unexpected. It excuses a party from liability if an unforeseen event, such as a natural catastrophe, prevents it from performing its obligations under the contract.

The effort off the coast of South Carolina is expected to take days. Navy and Coast Guard ships have been sent to the scene.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, called it a “dereliction of duty.” She said the balloon had “violated U.S. America’s Western allies were quick to line up behind the Biden administration’s insistence that the balloon was a clumsy attempt at spying by China. He described it as “a decision that was focused on protecting human life,” but he cautioned that the incident should not have happened at all. Intelligence officials can offer briefings on China’s balloon surveillance program to “key officials” from the Trump administration, the person said. Officials in Washington and Beijing had seen the trip as part of a renewed effort to establish high-level dialogue during a period of heightened tensions. Officials from the State Department and the White House National Security Council spoke with Chinese officials about the downing of the balloon soon after it happened, a senior Biden administration official said. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. A senior administration official said on Sunday that in the end, U.S. official said on Sunday that there were ways for intelligence officials to feed false information to the balloon, which would largely render the information it gathered worthless. The recovery effort, which is expected to take days, began not long after debris from the balloon hit the water on Saturday, a defense official said. WASHINGTON — Navy divers were searching for debris from the Chinese spy balloon that a U.S.