The Chinese balloon shot down by the US military had the capability to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that had flown over "more than 40 countries across five continents", said the Biden administration on Thursday, reported the Associated Press.
The People’s Liberation Army operates a fleet of balloons equipped with modern technology to gather sensitive information from targets across the globe the US said. Similar balloons have sailed over five continents, according to the administration.
"High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations," said a senior State Department official to CNN.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, senior FBI officials said that a few pieces of the balloon had arrived at the FBI’s Quantico, Virginia, lab for investigation. So far, investigators have parts of the balloon canopy, wiring, and what one official called "a very small amount of electronics," reported AP.
The details about the program’s scope and capabilities was meant to outline China’s persistent denials that the balloon was used for spying, including a claim Thursday that US accusations about the balloon amount to "information warfare," reported the news agency.
President Joe Biden defended the US action but denied that the balloon episode represented a major security breach.
"Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming," said the President in an interview to Spanish language Telemundo Noticias, according to AP.
"Anyway, it’s not a major breach. I mean, look ... it’s a violation of international law. It’s our airspace. And once it comes into our space, we can do what we want with it," he added.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, US lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to condemn China for a "brazen violation" of US sovereignty and efforts to "deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns," reported AP.
The Chinese "Spy" balloon was shot down by the US last weekend over the Atlantic Ocean.
This is not the first time the U.S. government has publicly called out alleged activities of the People’s Liberation Army. In a first-of-its-kind prosecution in 2014, the Obama administration Justice Department indicted five accused PLA hackers of breaking into the computer networks of major American corporations in an effort to steal trade secrets, the AP report stated.