Editor’s note: The US military shot down the surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday (4 February) on the orders of President Biden.
The first reports broke on Thursday (2 February). The United States military had detected what it believed to be a Chinese surveillance balloon in American airspace. Fighter jets had been scrambled to track it. The president had been informed. The Pentagon had advised him, for now, against shooting it down due to the risk of debris to people on the ground.
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