WASHINGTON — U.S. officials may have prevented the compromise of sensitive data from a military installation because of a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying overhead, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
“Because we know the path, we can protect sensitive sites from collection,” Biden said. “We are waiting until the water is safe, which will not only protect the civilians but also recover the important components for further analysis.”
Biden spoke from an auditorium across the hall from the West Wing of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, making remarks announced only an hour earlier. He largely repeated information that had been sent by the Pentagon and White House aide John Kirby.
Biden said the intelligence community was still evaluating additional objects shot down last weekend, but there was “nothing to indicate” they were linked to China’s spy program or, for that matter, any other foreign government.
“I want to be clear, we have no evidence that there is an increase in the number of objects in the sky. Now we are only seeing more because of the measures taken to … speed up our radar,” he said.
US air defense radars have historically observed fast-moving aircraft and faster-moving ballistic missiles – not slow-moving balloons.
A suspected spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, after crossing the state. Three other objects were taken down on Friday, Saturday and Sunday over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron.
The balloon flew at an altitude of 60,000 feet, above the level of commercial air traffic, and carried a load the size of three buses – making it dangerous to bring it down on land. The three most recent objects were smaller and flew from 20,000 feet to 40,000 feet, the altitude used by the aircraft, which led to the decision to take them down at the earliest opportunity.
China has not yet claimed ownership of the three new objects. Neither do any other foreign governments.
It is still unclear whether the information that the People’s Republic of China, as it is officially known, can gather from balloons in the stratosphere that cannot be gathered from the many camera satellites that pass 100 miles over the United States every day or from satellites located at the equator, from where he can intercept electronic communications in North America.
Biden said he asked his national security staff to create protocols to deal with similar situations in the future, with the idea of sharing them internationally to establish global standards.
“I have instructed the team to come back to me with clearer rules on how we will deal with these unknown objects moving forward, distinguishing between those that may pose a security and safety risk that require action and those that do not,” Biden said. said. “But make no mistake, if there is an object that poses a threat to the safety or security of the American people, I will remove it.”
Biden added that the United States had taken action against six companies working with the Chinese military, but that he planned to keep the lines of communication open. “Our diplomats will go further and I will stay in communication with President Xi,” he said.