Pentagon: China’s conducted spy balloon program for years

By TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says 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 press secretary says 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. It was only “subsequent intelligence analysis” that allowed the U.S. to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn “a lot more” about the program. The spokesman, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, refused to provide any new details about those previous balloons on Wednesday.