“He decided the best time to do it was when it was out of water,” Biden said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement, “On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to land the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished, without any risk to American life under the balloon’s path.” May go.” “After careful analysis, US military commanders determined that the balloon was downgraded when it posed an unreasonable risk to people over a wide area on the ground due to the size and height of the balloon and its surveillance payload.”
The FAA restricted airspace in three cities in the Carolinas on Saturday after Biden pledged “we’re going to take care of it” during a stop in Syracuse, NY.
Later on Saturday, while aboard Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in New York, Biden flashed a thumbs up to smiling reporters when asked if the US was going to shoot down the balloon.
The FAA said flights to Wilmington, Myrtle Beach International and Charleston International airports are starting Saturday afternoon.
“Other airspace has been reopened. Normal operations are resuming,” said a spokesperson.
According to a senior defense official, US officials began tracking the balloon over US territory on January 28 when it was spotted over Alaska. It entered Canadian airspace on 30 January, and re-entered US airspace over northern Idaho on 31 January.
The official said the President sought alternatives on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Austin called the head of the US Northern Command, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley and other senior leaders to discuss the way forward.
While the DOD had a “shot window” to take down the balloons over Montana, military commanders “didn’t feel like we could buy enough exposure to land,” the person said.
A senior military official said defense officials have estimated that debris could fall within a radius of at least seven miles, so the decision was deferred.
Austin said, at the president’s direction, the Pentagon “developed options to safely bring the balloon down over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its route and intelligence-gathering activities.”
On Friday night, Biden was briefed and approved of the plan to shoot down the balloon, according to a senior administration official.
On Saturday, an F-22 stealth fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia shot down an AIM-9X air-to-air missile that shot down the balloon, a senior defense official said. The mission was supported by F-15s from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and tankers from multiple locations.
“This was the first available opportunity to successfully bring down a surveillance balloon that would not pose a threat to the safety of Americans,” the official said.
There are no indications that people, civilian aircraft or maritime vessels were harmed in any way.
The US will now work to recover any debris from the balloon and any material of intelligence value. The senior military official said several US Navy and US Coast Guard ships are in the area to help with the recovery mission. The person said the wreck is in just 47 feet of water, which would make recovery “fairly easy, really.”
The person said that while the Pentagon worked to bring the balloon down, officials also took steps to protect the balloon’s ability to collect sensitive information. Its flight path took it close to some sensitive military installations.
The official said that the flight of the balloon was also of intelligence importance to the United States.
“I can’t go into more detail, but we were able to study and examine the balloon and its equipment,” the person said.
The mission was closely coordinated with the Canadian government, Austin noted.
Late Saturday, China called the shooting a “serious violation of international practice”, and threatened repercussions. China has denied it was using the balloon to spy on the US, saying it was a civilian airplane used for weather monitoring that blew up due to unpredictable wind .
According to the senior administration official, US officials spoke directly with Chinese officials after the operation. The State Department also briefed allies and partners around the world.
The appearance of the balloon further strained already strained US-Chinese relations, and the public downing of the vessel was unlikely to improve relations. Still, it will help Biden on the domestic political front, where he faces calls, especially from Republicans, to get even tougher on Beijing.
throughout the week Lawmakers met with Biden to deal with the potential threatwith sen john tester (D-Mont.), who chairs the panel that oversees the Pentagon’s budget, called the balloons a “clear threat” to national security.
On Saturday Sen. Tim Scott (RS.C.) said in a statement: “The balloon should have been shot down before it crossed the continental United States, not after. We still do not know what information was collected and Where was it sent. It was Biden’s dereliction of duty, and let’s hope the American people don’t pay the price.
Representative Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said: “I commend our service members for completing a successful mission to neutralize a spy balloon sent by the Chinese Communist Party. I Very concerned about the decision by the Biden administration to allow spy balloons to fly into the United States.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader chuck schumer Appreciated the actions of the President. “I strongly condemn President Xi’s brazen intrusion into US airspace, and I applaud President Biden’s leadership in taking down the Chinese balloon above the water to ensure the safety of all Americans. Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used by the CCP.”
This is not the first time a Chinese spy balloon has entered US airspace, the Pentagon official said, at least three times during the last administration and once at the beginning of this administration – but never for this period. .
A senior administration official said, “It was a PRC surveillance balloon.” “This surveillance balloon intentionally flew over the United States and Canada and we believe it intended to monitor sensitive military sites. Its passage over the United States near several potentially sensitive sites contradicts the PRC government’s explanation that it There is a weather balloon.
“This is not the only PRC surveillance balloon operating in the Western Hemisphere. The second one seen crossing Central and South America is another PRC surveillance balloon. In fact, these balloons are part of the PRC’s fleet of balloons, Those have been developed to conduct surveillance operations, which have also violated the sovereignty of other countries,” the official said.
News of the balloon sparked discussions between the State Department and agency leaders inside the administration about canceling Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing later this week. Ultimately, the decision was made to postpone, not cancel, although it is unclear when Blinken will go.
Adam Cankrin, Oriana Pavlik and Nahal Tosi contributed to this report.