US Navy searches for debris from downed Chinese spy balloon [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Chinese spy balloon seen hovering over U.S. skies has been shot down by an American fighter jet.
• The U.S. Navy are now working towards recovering all pieces of debris for intelligence purposes.
• China insisted it was a weather balloon that veered off course, while U.S. military officials believe it tried to spy over military installations.

A U.S. fighter jet has shot down the Chinese spy balloon six miles off the coast of South Carolina. Defense officials said on Sunday that divers from the U.S. Navy are now searching portions of the balloon debris.

Soon after the balloon was shot down, a Navy ship arrived on the scene, and several other Navy and Coast Guard ships were deployed. The recovery effort began not long after.

President Joe Biden confirmed on Saturday that he had previously ordered Pentagon officials to shoot down the balloon, but he was told that they have to “wait until the safest place to do it.”

Pentagon officials said that they took measures to ensure that the balloon will not be able to gather information of significant value, even as it flew over military bases and other sensitive sites. They added that the intelligence it could recover is just the same as a spy satellite.

The whole incident has led to a diplomatic quarrel.

China insisted that the balloon was simply a weather balloon that drifted off its course and was not there to spy. Meanwhile, the Biden administration said that it was an effort by China to spy on U.S. military installations.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China has since been canceled.

Pentagon officials stated that Navy divers will retrieve every piece of debris they can, which will then be handed over to various federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They believe that it is a simple recovery effort since the balloon fell in relatively shallow water, but the effort could still take days.

Lawmakers from both parties questioned how the balloon managed to pass over the country. Republicans blamed the president for not immediately alerting the public about the balloon and not acting sooner.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) of the Intelligence Committee told Fox News, “We should have shot this balloon down over the Aleutians instead of letting it float across middle America on its merry way.” He said that letting “a spy balloon complete its spy mission” before shooting it down “is an embarrassment to the United States, not an embarrassment to the Chinese.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) acknowledged that the decision-making “was focused on protecting human life,” but argued that such an “incursion” should not have happened in the first place. “We obviously have issues here,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) of the Intelligence Committee called for “answers.” He told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the president should have conducted a press conference to “explain what we’re dealing with here and why he’s made the decisions he’s making and what they intend to do.” Not doing so was a “dereliction of duty,” he added.

Source: Yahoo News