• The US intelligence officials say the balloon was employed for espionage by the Chinese military.
• The US briefed 40 friendly countries on the alleged espionage.
• Chinese officials have already denied employing surveillance balloons.

According to US intelligence officials, the balloon shot down on Saturday was employed for espionage by the Chinese military.

According to unnamed officials, such balloons were deployed to collect intelligence on strategically important countries.

Among them were Japan, India, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Chinese officials have already denied employing surveillance balloons.

According to the Washington Post, the US intelligence agency believes that some of the balloons were launched from Hainan, a southern Chinese island with a naval military facility.

Quoting an unnamed senior Biden administration official, sources confirmed that the US intelligence community believed the balloon was part, in its words, of an “aerial surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army out of Hainan”.

A senior Biden administration official confirmed to sources that America briefed 40 friendly countries on the alleged espionage on Monday.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also announced in the meeting that one balloon had circumnavigated the globe in 2019, passing over Hawaii and Florida.

According to a Biden administration official, the Gang of Eight, a group of US Congressional leaders in charge of supervising national intelligence affairs, would be briefed on the development on Wednesday, and Congress will be updated on Thursday.

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