Navy divers begin pulling up Chinese spy balloon debris
WASHINGTON — Navy divers began pulling pieces of the downed Chinese spy balloon from the depths of the ocean floor on Tuesday, using reconnaissance drones to locate the debris.
After collecting all of the balloon’s white fabric and shell structure found on the surface, the Navy has now shifted to an all-underwater search for the remnants of the massive balloon that a U.S. fighter jet shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.
The debris already collected was being hauled by small boats to a few area locations, including a Coast Guard station south of Myrtle Beach, and will eventually go either to the FBI lab at Quantico, Virginia, or other sites where experts can analyze it.
The head of U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Glen VanHerck, who is in charge of the recovery effort, and several Biden administration officials will brief members of Congress on the balloon on Wednesday and Thursday.
Lawmakers have raised a number of questions about whether the balloon was able to collect intelligence and transmit it back to China during the time it traveled eastward across the United States, after crossing the border from Canada into Idaho.
White House and Pentagon officials have largely avoided providing any details on the balloon’s capabilities.
Officials said Tuesday the U.S. was very aware of the sites the balloon crossed over and knows how to protect them from any intelligence collection. Even if the balloon was able to transmit, they said, it wasn’t getting any new or important information to send.
The officials were unwilling to provide any insight into what the U.S. has been able to glean about the balloon’s collection and transmission abilities.
The balloon, an estimated 200 feet tall, was carrying a long sensor package underneath, which VanHerck estimated was the size of a small regional jet.
U.S. counterintelligence teams hope to learn far more about the sensors and other equipment on the balloon as they retrieve it and study it.
The balloon debris is scattered in waters that are about 50 feet deep, but stretch across an area 15 football fields long and 15 football fields across, VanHerck said.
VanHerck has also said the recovery teams were taking precautions to safeguard against the chance any part of the balloon was rigged with explosives or was dangerous in any way.