Pentagon: China’s conducted spy balloon program for years

WASHINGTON — The Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for “several years,” the Pentagon said Wednesday.

When similar balloons passed over U.S. territory on four occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons, said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.

But he said “subsequent intelligence analysis” allowed the U.S. to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn “a lot more” about the program.

He refused to provide any new details about those previous balloons. When pressed, Ryder would only say that the balloons flew over “sites that would be of interest to the Chinese.”

One of the possible incidents was last February.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, the adjutant general in Hawaii, tweeted about a balloon over Kauai a year ago. He said U.S. Indo-Pacific Command “detected a high-altitude object floating in air in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands” and sent up aircraft to intercept it. He said they visually confirmed it was an unmanned balloon with no identification markings.

Ryder declined to say whether this was one of the four previous incidents that the U.S. had discussed.

Pacific Air Forces, the Air Force command in the Indo-Pacific, said that balloon was not shot down.

The recent balloon was shot down by a U.S. military fighter jet on Saturday.

The Navy and Coast Guard are still working to recover pieces of the downed balloon so they can be analyzed.

China claims it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research and sharply criticized the U.S. for shooting it down.

In response to questions about China’s explanation, Ryder said Wednesday that, “I can assure you this was not for civilian purposes … we are 100% clear about that.”

Ryder said North American Aerospace Defense Command began tracking the balloon as it approached U.S. airspace.