The Department of Defense confirmed that balloon debris that was recovered off of the coast of Alaska last month appeared to have been in the ocean for “well over a year.”
Sue Gough, a Department of Defense spokesperson, confirmed to Fox News Digital that an initial inspection of the balloon “indicated” that it had been “in the ocean for well over a year.”
“Some material has been transferred to U.S. government facilities for further examination and analysis,” Gough said.
MILITARY TRACKS HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON OVER WESTERN US
The Pentagon in Washington, March 27, 2008. The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon as part of a Biden administration plan to promote energy conservation and clean energy. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
The balloon was first spotted by U.S. military aircraft and determined to not be a threat in Feb.
The origin of this balloon and its purpose are not yet known, two officials previously told Fox News Digital.
The balloon drifted east in the jet stream.
In this image provided by the Department of Defense, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, a U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on Feb. 3, 2023. (Department of Defense via AP, File)
A year ago, a Chinese spy balloon was discovered and shot down after it flew over the U.S. for several days.
The Pentagon said in June that while the Chinese balloon had “intelligence collection capabilities,” it didn’t collect any data before it was shot down.
BIDEN CLAIMS CHINESE SPY BALLOON WAS ‘MORE EMBARRASSING’ FOR CHINA, SUGGESTS IT WASN’T ‘INTENTIONAL’
“We also took steps to mitigate the potential efforts of that balloon,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in June.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. (Randall Hill/Reuters)
Intelligence agencies have concluded that the spy balloon was used for spying, not weather-related issues as China had claimed.
Information captured by the spy balloon is not believed to have been successfully sent back to Beijing. It is unclear why the spy mission seemed to fail, but officials said intelligence agencies used countermeasures to prevent data collection.
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The Chinese spy balloon flew from Alaska to the East Coast, where it was shot down by the military over the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 4.
Fox News’ Brie Stimpson contributed to this report.
