According to a new report from NBC News, the Chinese spy balloon that traveled across the United States earlier this year collected intelligence from several sensitive American military sites.
The report, citing two current American officials and one former administration official, states that the spy balloon was controlled by Chinese operators who maneuvered it to make several passes over specific military sites, sometimes in a figure-eight pattern. The balloon transmitted the data collected in “real time” back to Beijing, the outlet said.
The data obtained by China was primarily electronic signals that could be collected from weapons systems or base communications, NBC News noted further.
When asked for comment by NBC, the National Security Council referred to previous statements made by the Department of Defense in February. According to those statements, the Chinese spy balloon provided only “limited additive value” to China “over and above what [China] is likely able to collect through things like satellites in low earth orbit.”
The officials further noted that the communist nation could have gathered even more intelligence if the Biden administration hadn’t taken actions to move potential targets around to disrupt intelligence gathering.
According to previous reports, the State Department confirmed that the Chinese spy balloon had the ability to gather intelligence. It flew over Montana, where the Malmstrom Air Force Base nuclear missile silo field is located, and followed a flight path that could have allowed it to collect intelligence from other sensitive military sites. The Chinese government claimed that the balloon was a civilian airship.
The balloon was eventually shot down over the Atlantic Ocean on February 4. The U.S. military used an F-22 Raptor to down the object with a single air-to-air AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.
General Glen VanHerck, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), told reporters earlier this year that the balloon was up to 200 feet tall and weighed “in excess of a couple thousand pounds.”
After the balloon was shot down, the U.S. subsequently downed three more unidentified objects over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Canada.
