Biden administration intelligence officials observed the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina ever since it took off, according to multiple reports.
U.S. monitors watched as the aircraft took off from Hainan Island near China’s south coast in late January nearly a week before it entered U.S. airspace, The New York Times reported, earlier than previously known. Follow-up reports by The Washington Post and CBS News indicate U.S. intelligence tracked the balloon moving east toward Guam, but it suddenly veered north toward Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.
The balloon later crossed over the contiguous United States from Canada. The U.S. government first acknowledged the suspected reconnaissance balloon on February 2 as it was spotted over Billings, Montana, after which Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned trip to China in protest.
