The Pentagon has stated that the Chinese balloon, suspected to be a spy aircraft and shot down by a US fighter jet in February, did not collect any intelligence data.
According to Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder, the US military implemented measures to mitigate the collection of intelligence by the balloon. Ryder stated, "Our assessment now is that it did not gather intelligence while transiting or overflying the United States."
The balloon was equipped with intelligence collection capabilities, but Ryder did not provide further details regarding the efforts made to prevent data collection.
The debris of the suspected spy balloon was recovered from the sea after being shot down on February 4th. It had spent a week flying over US and Canadian airspace before being submerged off the coast of South Carolina.
The incident further strained relations between the US and China, with China denying allegations of spying. The Chinese foreign ministry claimed that the balloon was a weather monitoring device that had strayed into American airspace.
Recent analysis by US defense and intelligence agencies revealed that the balloon was equipped with American-made surveillance equipment, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials. The analysis indicated that the balloon was intended for spying purposes but did not transmit data back to China during its eight-day journey over Alaska, Canada, and parts of the contiguous US.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder and the FBI have not yet responded to the report.
This development comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing, as both countries seek to improve their strained diplomatic relations. The visit was originally scheduled for February but was postponed due to the dispute over the shooting down of the Chinese balloon by the Biden administration. Photo by Mariordo Camila Ferreira & Mario Duran, Wikimedia commons.