CNN's Manu Raju speaks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy following a classified briefing. (CNN)
After receiving a classified briefing, top Republican House leaders doubled down that the Biden administration should have acted earlier to shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it was wrong for the Biden administration to wait to shoot down the balloon.
“They should have never let it into our sovereignty, they should have taken it another time,” McCarthy said.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise held a similar position that they should have taken more “decisive action” earlier.
"Clearly decisive action should have been taken much sooner,” Scalise said.
Asked if he was concerned about any military escalation with China after the balloon was shot down, Scalise responded that the US should not be worried about China’s concerns.
“China’s flying a spy balloon over American territory, we shouldn’t be concerned what China’s worried about with military tensions, we should be furious that China has so little respect for the sovereignty of the United States of America," he said.
12:19 p.m. ET, February 9, 2023
FBI has begun to evaluate pieces of suspected Chinese spy balloon, senior officials say
From Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez
This image provided by the U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina of February 5. (US Navy via AP)
The FBI investigation into the suspected Chinese spy balloon recovered in the Atlantic Ocean is the first of its kind in the bureau’s history, senior FBI officials familiar with the operation said Thursday, as they described the initial stages and what’s been recovered so far.
The officials said that this is the first time the FBI has investigated a suspected spy balloon of this nature and assisted with the processing of such a scene. The officials added that understanding the components of the balloon is vital intelligence and could be “important pieces of evidence for future criminal charges that could be brought.”
Only evidence that was on the surface of the ocean has been delivered to FBI analysts so far, one official said, which includes the “canopy itself, the wiring and then a very small amount of electronics.” The official said analysts have not yet seen the “payload,” which is where you would expect to see the “lion’s share” of electronics.
Recovering additional pieces of the balloon that sunk has been complicated by bad weather, officials said.
It’s not yet clear where the balloon’s parts were manufactured, the officials said, including whether any of the pieces were made in America. Because analysts have yet to look at the bulk of the equipment on the balloon, the officials said that there has not been a determination as to everything the device was capable of doing and its specific intent.
Of the small portion they have examined, analysts have not identified any sort of explosive or “offensive material” that would pose a danger to the American public.
The FBI was alerted to the balloon on Feb. 1, the officials said, because the intelligence community had determined that the balloon had an electronic element to it. By late Sunday -- the day after the balloon was shot down -- agents had arrived at the scene, and the first pieces of recovered evidence arrived at the FBI lab in Quantico on Monday.
11:59 a.m. ET, February 9, 2023
"Help me understand": Lawmakers push defense officials over suspected spy balloon decisions
From CNN's Haley Britzky
Sen. Jon Tester. (Senate Appropriations Committee)
Lawmakers pushed defense officials on Thursday over the military’s assessment of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down on Saturday, with Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana telling officials that he did not know how they could unequivocally say it was not a military threat.
“You guys have to help me understand why this baby wasn't taken out long before and because I am telling you that that this ain't the last time we've saw brief incursions,” Tester said Thursday during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing.
“We don't understand because quite frankly, we have been briefed in his committee over and over and over again, about the risks that China poses, both economically and militarily,” he said. “China tends to push the envelope all the time until a line is set down.”
“[T]he question I, and it goes back to everything that everybody on this committee has talked about, and that is — and I'm not sure you can answer it in this forum — but a violation of airspace is a violation of airspace,” Tester said. “And to know absolutely that this was of no military threat to us, boy, I want to hear more about that in a classified session too because quite frankly, I'm not sure that you can say that unequivocally.”
Officials, including the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, testified before the subcommittee on Thursday, touching on the Defense Department’s decision to not shoot the balloon down until it was off the East Coast of the US.
Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota echoed similar concerns to Tester, telling the subcommittee’s witnesses that people “want to understand.”
“People support our men and women in uniform. We appreciate what you do. We are, we owe you our lives and we are deeply thankful for that. But Americans don't understand this situation. So they need to understand why the decisions were made that were made. And, you know, whether or not that is what is best for national security," he said.
11:57 a.m. ET, February 9, 2023
Pentagon official lays out timeline of US awareness of suspected Chinese surveillance balloon
From CNN's Haley Britzky
(Senate Appropriations Committee)
Waiting to shoot the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon down until it was over water allowed officials to observe the balloon’s capabilities, avoid civilian casualties, and improved the US’ ability to recover the balloon itself, a Department of Defense official told lawmakers Thursday.
“The military recommended taking the balloon down over water. Waiting to do so had three benefits,” Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “First it gave us additional time to observe the balloon, again, assessing the PRCs capabilities and tradecraft. Simultaneously, we protected against intelligence collection, which again was relatively straightforward since we knew where the balloon was. Second, this allowed us to refine options and decrease the risk of debris causing harm to civilians.
“Please bear in mind, the balloon itself was 200 feet tall with a jetliner size payload,” Dalton said. “We consulted with NASA, who analyzed and assessed the potential debris field that the balloon would create based on trajectory, weather, and the estimated payload. And third, waiting to shoot the balloon down over water improved our prospects at recovery, which are ongoing.”
Dalton said the balloon first entered the US Air Defense Identification Zone over Alaska on Jan. 28,before flying over Canada. US officials continued tracking the balloon to learn more about China’s capabilities, she said, before it entered US continental airspace on Jan. 31.
11:54 a.m. ET, February 9, 2023
Biden asked military for "kinetic courses of action" as suspected surveillance balloon approached US border
From CNN's Haley Britzky
President Biden asked the military for “kinetic courses of action” when China’s surveillance balloon approached the US border, Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers on Thursday – but the risk to people on the ground was higher than the risk of Chinese intelligence collection.
“In determining potential options, the risk of Chinese intelligence collection was deemed to be low to moderate while the risk of US personnel on the ground was assessed at moderate to significant,” Sims told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Thursday.
“Given the various debris field models, combined with potential weapons carrying. As the assessment for risk to US personnel outweigh the potential intelligence loss, the recommendation was made to shoot the balloon down over an area that minimize the risk to US citizens," he added.
The balloon was ultimately shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday by an F-22 Raptor.
11:44 a.m. ET, February 9, 2023
House lawmakers emerge from briefing split over US response to Chinese balloon
From CNN's Morgan Rimmer
Rep. Don Bacon. (CNN)
Some members of the US House of Representatives left the classified briefing on the suspected Chinese spy balloon divided over the administration’s response.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon said he still believes that there were plenty of opportunities to shoot down the balloon before it crossed the continental United States.
“They should have done it early, they had opportunities over Alaska, and it traversed all of Canada and down to Idaho, Montana,” he told CNN. “There are not a lot of people in some of these areas that we could have taken that shot.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN’s Manu Raju that the administration was right to wait to shoot down the balloon over open water.
“I'm confident that the administration made the right judgment about when they shot it down,” he said. “I think there was a real risk to people on the ground had they shot it down over an area even that was sparsely populated. And so I think they made the right decision to do so when it was not going to pose a risk to American lives.”
Both members agreed that the intelligence community and the military are more prepared for the possibility of future balloons.
“I think that our intelligence agencies and the military are certainly well aware of the risk in terms of intelligence gathering capabilities of these crafts, better aware of them, and are taking appropriate action to mitigate the threat,” said Schiff.
Bacon added, “We've learned from it. That's a good thing, and I hope that we'll learn from it. I think we'll — I doubt this will ever happen again. I mean, I doubt that we’ll ever let it go through our whole country again, like that.”
12:53 p.m. ET, February 9, 2023
Democratic lawmaker calls for congressional notification of foreign surveillance air incursions
Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres on Thursday told CNN’s Kate Bolduan exclusively he is introducing legislation requiring congressional notification of future foreign surveillance air incursions in the wake of the suspected Chinese spy balloon.
"The actions of the Chinese Communist Party are cause for concern," Torres said. "The American people and their elected representatives in Congress have a right to know when foreign surveillance objects like spy balloons intrude into American air space."
"I'm introducing legislation known as the "Aerial Intelligence collection Revelation Act," the AIR act, which would require the Defense Department to immediately disclose to Congress when a foreign surveillance object has invaded our air space."
Torres, a member of the House select committee on competing with China who was briefed on the Chinese ballon said, "There were at least five instances of Chinese spy balloons invading the sovereignty of the United States."
"We know that the Chinese Communist Party has a global surveillance program that has infringed on the sovereignty of more than 40 countries and five continents and so most people, including myself, were not aware of the full extent of this problem," he added.
When asked if the spy balloon incident changed US-China relations, Torres responded “I do believe that the intrusion of a spy balloon into our airspace is a violation of our sovereignty and should be taken seriously.”
With regards to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Chinese counterpart declining his call after the balloon was shot down, Torres described the move as “shockingly disrespectful and I thought it was disingenuous for the Chinese Communist Party to claim that the spy balloon was for civilian and meteorological purposes. I mean, that was an insult to the intelligence of every person and it was unacceptable and we have in the past.”
“We have to send a message that we’re not going to turn a blind eye to the aggressive actions of the CCP,” Torres concluded.
CNN's Andrew Millman contributed reporting to this post.
11:35 a.m. ET, February 9, 2023
House approves resolution condemning China's use of suspected spy balloon
From CNN's Clare Foran
In this photo provided by Chad Fish, the remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, on February 4. (Chad Fish via AP)
The House of Representatives voted to pass a resolution condemning China's use of the suspected surveillance balloon that was shot down by US jets over the weekend.
The resolution is a symbolic rebuke of the Chinese government and is not binding legislatively.
The resolution condemns "the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty."
It also calls on the Biden administration "to continue to keep Congress apprised by providing comprehensive briefings" on the incident.
The measure was introduced by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee.
"Last week, the nation watched in shock as a Chinese surveillance balloon traversed much of the United States, including sensitive American military sites," McCaul said in a statement. The chairman said that the resolution sends a message "that this kind of aggression will not be tolerated."
The vote took place under suspension of the rules, which requires two-thirds of the chamber to vote in favor for passage -- a procedure used for measures expected to win widespread bipartisan support.
11:28 a.m. ET, February 9, 2023
Chinese spy balloon was capable of monitoring communications, US says
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood
The Biden administration has determined that the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, which was shot down by US jets on Saturday, was operating with electronic surveillance technology capable of monitoring US communications, according to a senior State Department official.
The balloon “was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations” and was part of a fleet that had flown over “more than 40 countries across five continents.” It was “part of a PRC (People’s Republic of China) fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations” with a manufacturer tied to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the official added.
The official suggested that the US is eyeing sanctions for the presence of the balloon in US airspace – which US officials have repeatedly called a violation of US sovereignty and international law – noting the US “will also explore taking action against PRC entities linked to the PLA that supported the balloon’s incursion into US airspace.”
“We know the PRC used these balloons for surveillance,” the official said. “High resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations.”
