Biden Confirms US Successfully Prevented Compromise of Sensitive Data from Chinese Surveillance Balloons

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the US is increasingly confident that the three objects that were downed in recent weeks were Chinese surveillance balloons, and that the US was able to prevent the compromise of sensitive data from military installations.

The initial Chinese surveillance balloon, which was downed off the coast of South Carolina, was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations and had a payload around the size of three buses. Biden said that the US was able to protect sensitive sites against collection by knowing the path of the balloon.

“We waited until it was safely over water, which would not only protect civilians but enable us to recover substantial components for further analytics,” Biden said.

The intelligence community is still assessing what the additional objects shot down were, but they are believed to be much smaller than the initial Chinese balloon. Biden spoke from an auditorium across an alley from the West Wing in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in remarks that were announced only an hour earlier.

Biden said that the US is now confident that the objects were Chinese surveillance balloons, and that the US was able to protect sensitive sites against collection. He also said that the intelligence community is still assessing what the additional objects shot down were, and that they are believed to be much smaller than the initial Chinese balloon.