polite way to put it of issues between the united states and china, it was pretty crowded, complicated and intense and the chinese send a spy balloon over the continentalnited states. what are u.s. officials saying? can they answer why and why now? >> well, that is the problem here, is that they can't really answer exactly why this is over the u.s. and a lot of the specific questions as to what next new days here look like, we heard from the pentagon that this balloon is expected to be over the united states for a few days, and that is significant. when it comes to the secretary of state's trip to china that was expected to be just over the weekend, it's been pulled down just hours before he was supposed to get on that plane. he made a phone call to his chinese counterpart this morning saying that the u.s. had assessed that conditions weren't really in a good spot right now for him to be making that trip, calling it unacceptable that this balloon is over u.s. air space saying it violates u.s. sovereignty. now the question is, when will they be able to reschedule this trip? they're saying it's being, you know, delayed right now, but they aren't giving u

as i mentioned right now, it's over the center of the continental united states. that's about as specific as i'm going to get. reporter: i understand it might be inconvenient but does the public not have the right to know? >> the public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is. thank you. reporter: general, you said the balloon is maneuverable, so does that mean that it's not drifting? >> so the balloon is maneuver able. clearly, it's violated u.s. air space and again, we've communicated that fact to the pr c. reporter: if possible, can you tell us if the balloon, when it entered the u.s. air space, has it changed its course in any way >> the balloon has changed its course, which is again why we're monitoring it, but that's about as specific as i can get. thank you. go to matt. reporter: so you said at this point, the balloon doesn't pose to have any, to pose any risks to citizens. how is it that the u.s. can assess that, given that the balloon is at such an altitude without actually getting eyes on it up close and assessing the

as i mentioned it is over the , center of the continental united states. that is as specific as i am going to get. >> i understand it might not be convenient but does the public not have the right to know? >> the public has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is. >> you said the balloon is maneuverable. does that mean it is not drifting? >> the balloon is maneuverable. it has clearly violated u.s. airspace and we have communicated that fact to the prc. can you tell us if the balloon, when it has entered the u.s. airspace, has it changed its course in any way? >> the balloon has changed its course, which is why we are monitoring it. that is as specific as i can get. let's go to matt. >> thank you sir. you said at this point the balloon does not pose any risk to citizens. how is it that the u.s. can assess that given that the balloon is that such an altitude and without getting eyes on it up close and assessing the equipment that is on board. secondly, are there any alternatives being considered to shooting it down, are there any opti

right now it is over the center of the continental united states, that is specific as i'll get. >> does the public not have a right to know? >> the public has ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is. thank you. >> general, you said balloon is maneuverable, so does that mean it is not drifting? >> so the balloon is maneuverable, clearly it is violated u.s. airspace and again, we communicated that fact to the prc. >> if possible, can you tell us if the balloon when it entered the u.s. airspace, has it is changed course in any way? >> the balloon has changed course, which is why we're monitoring, that is all i can get. thank you. go to matt. >> you said at that point, the balloon doesn't pose any risk to citizens. how is it the u.s. can assess that given at altitude and not getting eyes on it and assessing the equipment onboard? secondly, any alternatives being considered to shooting it down or take this balloon out of the sky in tact to get a better look at that equipment? >> yeah, so again, this is a surveillance balloon, hovering, operating about 60,000 feet. clearly

united states territory. the balloon was used to sur vile sites in the united states and continental united states.ing is that? >> it's just as concerning that the satellites are up there. the only thing that might have been accidental is the president of china may not have known of the timing. there is deliberate planning taking place by the government. in january, a grad student was sentenced to jail in six years in chicago for spying on our scientists, our academics. this is a very intense effort by the chinese to spy on our government and our private sector, our military. this is important. all i'm saying, it doesn't make sense that it's happening at this particular team with this brazen an effort when they are trying to normalize relations and the concern would be it is important for us to normalize these relations and this is going to send us in the exact opposite direction. it doesn't benefit either country and it's a horrible mistake by the chinese at this time. >> and have you heard of anything like this happening before? all the years on the intelligence community? the chinese with a spy

we were able to monitor that closely at track it over the continental united states and take it down. >> would you put this in a different bucket than that? >> i think i was pretty clear. this was traveling at about 40,000 feet, which posed a reasonable threat to civilian air traffic in the decision was made to take it down. >> when the pilots approached it and determined it was not manned , how did they determine that? at that point, would not it be possible to describe what they were looking at? did it resemble a balloon? >> we will have more information once we have recovered this. we will give credit to our pilots. they are very capable in terms of looking at an object, assessing whether or not this had the potential to be manned. at that altitude, something that small, very unlikely it was manned. so, no indication it was manned. it presented a reasonable threat to civilian air traffic and we took it down. >> what speed was a traveling at the echo >> i do not have that information. >> the chinese balloon, is it still plausible, or likely, that it was not necessarily intentional w

we detected this balloon and tracked a very closely and when it went into the continental united states we evaluated options on how best to bring it down. as you know once it was safe to do so we brought it down over water and we continue to collect debris to be able to ask. >> what did china think they could get 60000 feet that they couldn't get with the satellite? >> again that's a question that the best addressed by china. obviously at a high altitude you are operating above salient air traffic. as you've heard us say before the collection capabilities of this balloon were not more damaged than the other capabilities capabilities they maintained that regard is to take steps to mitigate the potential collection of mitigation. as i also mentioned we learned about -- a lot about the spelling program the last thing i'd say on that is i would not be surprised if prc starts to reevaluate its collection program. thank you. >> thank you general. first a clarification because i'm confused. with the previous four balloons did you say they were not detected by the intelligence did this happen d

mean, what are the capabilities that we as the united states has in terms of monitoring it and tracking it as it's making this path across the continentalted states to prevent too much surveillance from happening while it's floating over land as it did over the last week? >> right. let's take a look first of all at the different altitudes that all of these platforms can fly at. the f-22, the plane that shot down the suspected chinese surveillance balloon flies at a maximum advertised ceiling of 55,000 feet. it can go higher because it was at about 58,000 when it shot the balloon down. but that gives you a basic idea. nasa flies at 100,000 feet for their scientific balloons. we're getting into the stratosphere at this point in time. the problem is these types of devices cannot be picked up very easily in terms of radar traffic, so as things go floating through the united states, this basic path right here, which is what the balloon took, when it does that, it's not always possible for radar installations to pick these balloons up. so that's why we need to fine-tune radar. we also need to fine-tune the intelligence capabilities to recogni

this is a balloon that traversed the entire continental united states. have the chair of the senate arms committee, roger wicker saying this "allowing a spy balloon from the communist party of china to travel across the entire continental united states before contesting its presence is a disastrous projection of weakness by the white house. the white house owes congress and the american people about this failure, and i intend to get those answers." >> what's the explanation for why they id didn't address it more aggressively before it was able to make that full journey? >> contextually you have to understand, the fact that chinese -- alleged chinese spy balloons are in the general vicinity of the united states or in the general vicinity of alaska is not a rarity. they've seen these spy balloons on more than five continents up to this point. what was different about this, when it was first spotted on january 28th, it actually left the u.s. territory, went into canada and then came back into the continental united states on january 31st. that's the moment w

united states. this administration sat by and let them collect data and information for the entire continental uniteddid nothing about it. >> ashley: yeah. we are have to get to this. the house select cub committee on the weaponization the federal government held first hearing yesterday. let's listener to a piece of this and talk about tnches in my time in congress i have never seen anything like this. dozens and dozens of whistleblowers, fbi agents coming to us, talking about what's going on in the political nature at the justice department. >> ashley: so you heard congressman jordan there, what has been the most -- the biggest take away that you think from this hearing so far? >> well, have all known that the doj and the fbi have been politicized over the past few years going back to the russian collusion hoax and surveilling on the trump campaign. now you have actual fbi agents swearing an oath to be honest, sitting before a congressional committee, testifying that that's exactly what has been going on in the doj and the fbi. so much so that they left the bureau because of the politicization that'

we should never have allowed the balloon to transit the entire continental united states. there are a lot of open questions the administration needs to answer to congress about why they did not do it. part of it was the presidential reluctance to take any action that would be seen as provocative to the chinese communists. i do believe the administration wanted to salvage the secretary of state's trip. they got through thursday afternoon. civilians in billings blew the whistle on it. it took another 20 four hours for the secretary of state to cancel what was already an ill-advised trip. host: liz goodwin, your reaction? guest: senator cotton is saying what a lot of republican lawmakers are now, which is why didn't the administration shoot the balloon down earlier? there has been some back and forth in how the administration is choosing to answer that. so far biden has said publicly they did not want to cause any harm to civilians, which has been -- we have reporting in the post that some administration officials are saying anonymously that these balloons have been spotted b

pentagon too, as being a not aware that this balloon is up there. surveilling, montana, and continental united states is continental america, and the united states be then acting too slow. let it cruise the country or fly over the country more or less or undeterred. yes. and so the white house, as well as pentagon, took a lot of criticism from that, from, by whom, of course, by the opposition, by republicans more so than from democrats. so i think the white house, the government, he is a little bit the administration a little bit under pressure to really act faster right now. however, fairness be paramount here to the pentagon as well. why not say like there was really no reason to shoot this balloon or any of those objects now down over populated area or of any area which post just the slightest threat to any human being or to property. so they weighed it because it wasn't a problem to wait and then shut it down in a, a safe manner. and quite a bit to keep up with that. thank you for that. did have the stuff on payments that's more one to the latest on the earthquakes that are now known to have kill

to learning a lot about the balloon and the capabilities that it has well it was over the continental united states, we have identified or located a significant amount of debris on the ocean floor that will be very beneficial to us learning more about it, but at this point in time [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible]indicated that they are manufactured in china? >> i will not have more details at this time. >> other countries have indicated they have balloons in their territory. [indiscernible] the capabilities, and how you shut them down? >> in terms of what we are learning about these balloons, our state department as talked about this in terms of international outreach. the department of defense plays a role in these relationships, so we will continue to work with our allies to share information. >> two questions. did this object show any signs of maneuverability and propulsion? you and other pentagon officials made a big deal about how much intelligence that we gathered. you shut this one down before it entered the united states. is that the pentagon bowing to political pressure or it was there n

lose a major military asset, even if it's one that you made the decision to float over the continental united states. it is something i'm sure the chinese are taking seriously right now. >> you wouldn't want to have the secretary of state overseas in china while a chinese asset is being taken down by u.s. military all simultaneously. thank you so much. >>> i want to go back to the pentagon and oren lieberman. >> we have our first statement from the pentagon, official acknowledgment from the department of defense and a little more information about what went behind this action and what assets took part in it. in a statement of secretary of defense lloyd austin, the pentagon said it was a u.s. fighter aircraft that successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon. the balloon, which was being used by the prc, the people's republic of china n an attempt to surveil sites in the continental united states was brought down over u.s. territorial waters. president biden gave his author squagds to take down the balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to american

what we've never seen is it loiter over the continental united states for that period of time. clear, agencies of the federal government knew this was heading to the continental united states, days in advance and didn't notify congress until the news was about to run with the story and allowed it to cut a path across the middle of the country and never explained to us, and i mean us as the american public. >> steve: you heard reporting over the last week or so and they said it happened during the last administration, but they didn't know until after the fact. according to "washington post" or something like that, they decided to go ahead and started looking and retroactively figured out this had crossed in the united states airspace a couple times. do you buy that? >> no, let me tell you a couple things. systems today, nord stream 2 and spy agency designed to look for spy planes, missiles, not balloons, number one. number two, have chinese flown these things in the past? yes, i was aware they had a balloon program. has it done what this one done? absolutely not. if i want to get

assess that it does not pose a risk to people on the ground as it currently is traversing the continental united states. >> and that was kellie meyer reporting for us tonight to search caves, state antony blinken. he's canceled a high stakes trip to beijing because of this balloon. tonight, the pentagon says that another chinese spy balloon has been spotted over latin america. >> deep freeze warnings in parts of the northeast and new england as an arctic blast moves into the region. wind chills are in the negative double digits in maine where temperatures are as low as negative. 45 degrees. the wind chill makes it feel more like -60 warming centers have been opened up around the states there in new england so people can try to stay warm. some 16 million people and the new england region are under wind chill warnings. >> snowy weather in colorado is a blame for a crash that left drivers stranded along a local highway for hours. but that traffic jam became a jam session. what a band grab their instruments and started play. >> you given lemons, you make lemonade right, new grasp and elk arrange made the m

united states territory as a brazen violation of united states sovereignty, introduced by chairman -- from texas, not kentucky. not only did it float across much of south carolina, it floated across the entire continental united states and ended up over my district, and the balloon was shot down right off the coast of my hometown. it does sound like it was straight out of a sci-fi movie. there is no question that the lack of response from this administration was negligent, in my opinion. more than 19 million people annually visit our area to enjoy our beautiful beaches and southern hospitality along the coast that is known as the grand strand. myrtle beach is known for many things, but part of that equation is never been an international incident taking place right off of our shores. the chinese common his party last friday said this was merely a weather balloon gathering meteorological data and got lost in our country. it is comical to me that they would actually think that we would fall for such a bogus claim. let me be clear, this was a latent violation of american sovereignty as part of a comprehensive surveillance program on the united states as well as other countries across the globe. this was a

when the balloon entered the united states, the continental united states, it loitered over sensitive sites in montana. there was no sense that it was being carried by errant winds. pentagon officials were briefed before it crossed into alaska. that's not to say that u.s. intelligence didn't see it take off january 1, it did from china. a lot of attention is paid to china because of their military bases. lloyd austin told reporters that the u.s. has not found the debris yet from the other 3 objects shot down friday because it felt over difficult terrain. >> in terms of whether or not the debris is important? it's absolutely important. we're going to do everything we can to recover debris if it's possible. i'm not aware of any additional objects that have been reported operating in the space in the last 48 hours. >> secretary austin said the u.s. and canada were looking for the debris but ney never find it given the size and the location of its downing. neil? >> neil: thanks, jennifer griffin. meantime, it's not just china continuing to talk tough right now. my next guest is a noted ch

as i mentioned, we were able to monitor that closely, track it while it went over the continental united states, learn a lot about it and take it down at the appropriate time. >> so would you urge us to put this in a different bucket than that? >> yeah, i think i was pretty enclosure. this was traveling at about 40,000 feet which posed a potential reasonable threat to air traffic and the decision was made to take it down. >> when the pilot -- when the pilots approached it and they determined, i understand, that it was not manned, how did they determine that? and at that point, wouldn't it be possible to at least describe what they were looking at? did it resemble a balloon or an airplane or what? >> again, we'll know more and have more information once we've recovered this. i will give credit to our pilots that they are very capable in terms of looking at an object, assessing whether or not this had the potential to be manned. at that altitude, something that small, very, very unlikely that it was manned. and so, again, no indication that it was manned, presented a potential reasonable threat t

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why they chose to send a balloon across the continental united states. >> which raises the immediate n't the united states shot this down? >> it's too dangerous. the president asked for military options and was sold, advised not to do this. it was something they considered doing yesterday. but decided that it would be simply potentially too damaging to both property and people on the ground. >> a very serious situation indeed. thank you very much. >>> coming up, i'll speak to the new governor of maryland, wes moore, and get his reaction to the brutal death of tyre nichols. cargurus. shop. buy. sell. online. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements at 4 weeks. skyrizi is the first and only il-23 inhibitor for crohn's that can deliver both clinical remission and endoscopic improvement. the majority of people on skyrizi achieve

the contraption underneath the balloon. >> harris: that was surveilling us all over the continental united states. >> what they are trying to recover now. >> harris: great to get your perspective and experience in the military. thank you. president biden taking jabs at the gop ahead of his second state of the union address tomorrow. new polling shows that might not be scoring him anymore points with anybody. plus the dnc is shaking up its calendar for the party's primaries. they want a head start. how to get it? why critics say they are rigging the next election for president biden. will cain in "focus" next. after years of chasing the big idaho potato truck... i finally caught it. oh man. always look for the grown in idaho seal. veteran homeowners, if your family is being hurt by inflation, and you need to cut hundreds, off your monthly expenses, call newday the newday 100 va cash out loan lets you take out an average of $70,000. use that low-payment home loan to pay off your high-rate credit cards. then, pay off your car loan. and then take the cash left over and put it in the bank for the fina

has suspended his trip to beijing after a chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over the continental united statesngton has denounced what he calls an unacceptable and clear violation of its sovereignty. china for its part has expressed regret for what it called the civilian airship that had drifted off course. the white house has rejected that, calling the craft a surveillance satellite. let's listen to antony blinken speaking moments ago. sec. blinken: the presence of this surveillance balloon in u.s. airspace is a clear violation of u.s. sovereignty and international law. it is an irresponsible act, and the prc's decision to take this action on the eve of my plan visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions we are prepared to have. fraser: let's cross live in washington, where we can speak to "the guardian's" bureau chief david smith. thanks for joining us on france 24. we are told biden was briefed on this balloon on tuesday and a u.s. senator said he had reports it was flying over his state of kansas. he has been over the u.s. for some time, this balloon. vid: that's right, washington

so while it might not have come across the continental united states, alaska is still a state, and when russians fly near alaska, the u.s. scrambles fighter jets from the air force a base up there in alaska. so many questions from lawmakers, particularly republicans, asking why was this not taken out sooner, why wait for this slow burn, if you will, this slow float from montana all the way could be off the east coast, southeast coast of the united states over south carolina. arthel: valid questions. but not only will they be asked by congress, they will also be asked by our allies wanting to know why the u.s. was slow to respond. >> reporter: that's right. of course, you know, response time is a big, one of the reasons that the russians deployed bombers at times in the united states, another run officials say likely the chinese dethe ployed this spy balloon. in terms of what kinds of imagery it was sending back, some officials question chinese spy satellites, how crystal clear they are, certainly a spy balloon 60,000 feet overhead most likely can take fine, resolute pictures tan chinese

we should never have allowed it to transfer the entire continental united states and their open questions in his easter answer to congress on behalf of the american qupeople about why they didn't. or if it is the president's reluctance to kk action us confrontational first chinese communists. was provocative is sending. >> your reaction to the , senator there. >> senator, and is saying what a lot of lawmakers are now which is why the administration shoot the balloon down there ? there's been some back and forth in how the position is choosing to answer that . so far by them has said publiclythey didn't want to cause any harm to civilians which is , it's been the main excuse they had but we have to reporting the post some administration officials are saying anonymously that these photos have been spotted before in past administrations and now you have some administration officials saying on the record that's not true there's a lot of back-and-forth about five how the administration handled this what i sense that they came republicans are helping on the portion republicans saying no central

combineed organization of the united states and canada that provides aerospace warning, our sovereignty and protection or at least it's supposed to protect canada and the continental united states. it's a discussion for another program. they are underfunded and allowed to at try fee. this is a consequence. >> general, how is it going to ends? i pointed out a political reality that the president is going to speak to the nation and to the congress on tuesday night. and the reports that we're getting suggest a that this thing will hit the atlantic probably by the the end of the weekend depending upon the wind. so you think he's going to take it out? you think the president is going to give the order before tuesday? >> that's -- i don't want to be facetious, but that's a question for the president. i really don't foe. my opinion is he will probably let it go. but the fact of the matter is this is not an inconsequential act and should have been shot down prior to violating the sovereign air space. >> my poll question today asks whether this is a matter of national security or national pride. what's your answer to that question? >> national security. look, this particul

the chinese communist party has sent this spy flight and was able to float throughout the continental united statesch important military the installations? >> because with they see -- because they see as well as sense weakness in america right now. i mean, the clip you with just played of president biden, he's detached from reality. he's delusional. he denies that our southern border is open. he says that it's, you know, that we have control over it. we don't. and the fact that he doesn't acknowledge the fact that what is happening here is alarming and puts our nation in peril, it is the itself alarming. you know, we don't exactly have the a-team in place right now which is also more than unfortunate. one of the things i've been warning -- and, again, i don't want to the alarm your audience here -- but it certainly doesn't seem like these unmanned craft, you know, whatever these objects are, i mean, we saw the up one balloon, i don't know what these last two objects are, they're not easy to detect. and i've been warning for years about the risk of a high altitude nuclear blast that could create an

move -- move eastward and is over the continental united states. the public has the ability to look up in the sky and see why the balloon is. >> john: look up and smile, that was the pentagon, moments ago senator roger marshall announcing the balloon is over his state, hovering over northeast kansas. >> gillian: for years we have been following beijing's spra spra sprawling apparatus, and now it's hanging over the heads of millions of americans. telling fox it's intentional and calling it a violation of u.s. sovereignty. the balloon is about the size of two school busses head to tail. pentagon says it will linger over the country a few more days. >> john: the president was briefed on tuesday. is he going to take any action? i'm john roberts in washington. of all the things you never thought you would talk about, would this be near the top of your list? >> gillian: no, but interesting, makes for good discussion points, a whole range of issues. gillian turner in for sandra smith. that balloon is one of a whole host of national security concerns about

considering the possibility that china had no intention of infiltrating the territory of the continental united states using aerial reconnaissance devices. they say the weather is to blame for everything, but it's too late to give back. beijing made mirror accusations against washington according to the statements of the chinese foreign ministry in the sky over china , american flying objects were regularly noticed. at the same time , the department does not specify what kind of military or civilian objects are we talking about? it is also not reported whether they were shot down, however, the foreign ministry assured the country will take retaliatory measures against the united states for violating the sovereignty and security of the country. the american trace in the sabotage on the nord streams it is becoming more and more obvious the details were told by an investigative journalist. seymour hersh, in an interview with the berliner saitung newspaper, he noted that the us president decided to undermine because of the fear of the frg exiting the sanctions against russia hesh noted that biden decided

united states and they're keeping their options open. and i can tell you that the balloon continues to move eastward and is currently over the centre of the continental we currently assess that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time. officials say the immediate objective is to get this balloon out of us airspace. peter bowes, bbc news. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell has been guaging the response from beijing. there had been great hope here in beijing that the visit by us secretary of state antony blinken could provide something of a breakthrough, of a reset in us—china relations. but this balloon or these balloons have put a stop to that. there was, however, a call between china's most senior foreign policy official, wang yi, and antony blinken and according to official readout of that call from the chinese side, they're saying that wang yi told antony blinken that both sides should maintain steadiness and with timely communication, they could avoid misjudgment in terms of this balloon affair, but that beijing would not accept any groundless conjecture or hype regarding the balloons.

when one of these surveillance balloons entered our airspace over the continental united states earliern the month, i gave the order to shoot it down as soon as it would be safe to do so. the military advised against shooting it down because of the sheer size. it was the size of mobile -- multiple school buses and pose a risk to people on the ground if it was shot down where people lived. instead, we tracked it closely, analyzed its capabilities and learned more about how it operates. because we knew the path, we were able to protect sensitive sites against collection. we waited until it was safely overwater, which would not only protect civilians but also enable us to cover substantial components for further analytics. and then we shut it down, sending a clear message, a violation of our sovereignty is unacceptable. we will act to protect our country and we did. this past friday, we put frictions on six firms that directly support the people's republic liberation army, the people's liberation army aerospace program. that includes airships and balloons denying them access to u.s. techno

united states and china are both spending immense resources trying to steal each other secrets, trying to surveil each other. what is pretty unusual here is the brazenness of flying an aircraft over the continentald states. we need to understand if it was a mistake, deliberate and if deliberate, why. there's still a lot to be learned. >> what do we know about what kind of intelligence gathering it was doing? is it possible it was doing some high, new technology, whether it's drones or some other form of surveillance that we're not even aware of? >> of course that's possible and again, i would caution viewers of any show that i'm not sure that really anybody in this building has been briefed on what was found. but of course, it's always possible that there was novel technology. we understand this technology pretty well, also. but you know, i could give you speculative reasons for why you might want a balloon. both nations have satellites. they move quickly. a balloon gives you an opportunity to hover on over a location and a less far from a target. we'll know more this week and what its capabilities were, which is why we're happy to have recovered this thing and hopefully get some sense for was t

he said the united states had been monitoring that balloon since it was traversing over the continentalted states and made no apologies for shooting it down. he said they took some restrictions on three chinese firms that supply the people's liberation army with that type of technology and equipment as weapon. let's bring in our panel to discuss further. abby phillips, natasha bertrand and kim dozier, military analyst cedric leighton. back with us is cnn white house correspondent, jeremy diamond. let me start with you, colonel lateen. were you satisfied with the president's explanation that these were likely benign objects that were shot down especially since we have yet to find and retrieve these objects? >> i'm not really am. you hinted at it, because we have not been able to retrieve objects from the crash sites of these downed objects. so, we really don't know very much about them. it could be possible that the president is right about these objects and the intel community is right about them, but we have to not mirror image the way we do things with what other countries are doing b

you that the balloon continues to move eastward and is currently over the center of the continental united states. again, we currently assessed that the balloon is not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time will continue to review, excuse me, continue to monitor and review options. finally, secretary austin will host a bilateral meeting today. here in the pentagon, with australian deputy prime minister and minister of defense richard morals, the secretary looked forward to discussing bilateral defense cooperation and our mutual security efforts within the indo pacific region and beyond. a full read out of the engagement will post later today to defend start go. and with that, we'll go ahead and move your questions. we'll start with a p. tarka. i pad. thank you for doing us. and china has said this is just a weather balloon that has veered off course. why is the pentagon convinced that this is a surveillance balloon? and then can you give us a little bit more on the status of the blend you said is in the central of the central central us. what state do you have

when one of these high altitude surveillance balloons entered our airspace over the continental united stateser in the month, i gave the order to shootot it down as soon as it will be safe to do separate the military advising and shooting it down over land because of the sheer size of it. the size of multiple school buses opposed to a risk people on the ground if it was shot down where people lived. instead we tracked it closely, we analyzed its capabilities, we learn more about how it operates. because we know its path we were able to protect sensitive sites against collection. we waited until safely overwater, which would not only protect civilians but also enable us to recover substantial components for fertile analytics. and then we shut it down sending a clear message, clear message to the of our sovereignty is unacceptable. will act to protect our country and we did. now, this past friday we put restrictions on six affirms that directly support the people's republic liberation army, the people's liberation army aerospace program that includes airships and balloons denying them access to

breedlove, thank you for helping us understand what's going on, apparently still over the continental united states. appreciate it. >>> just ahead, the ongoing russian missile attacks on kramatorsk in ukraine that are claiming the lives of residents, and today came dangerously close to a cnn crew that was just yards away. our fred lit pleitgen will join us. that's next. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyn sensodyne toothpaste goes insidehe tooth d calms the nerve down. and my patents say: “you know doc, it really works." relapsing ms isn't the only thing i have going on. that's why my doctor and i chose kesimpta. kesimpta is different. it's the only b-cell treatment for rms i can take at home once a month. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions and slowing disability progression vs aubagio. for me, a once-monthly treatment just works for my schedule. don't take kesimpta if you have hepatitis b, and tell your doctor if you have had it, as it could come back. kesimpta can cause serious side effects, including i

as i mentioned right now, it's over the center of the continental united states. that's about as specific as i'm going to get. >> i understand it might be inconvenient. does the public have the right to know -- >> the public has the ability to look up and see where the balloon is. hey, man. nice pace! clearly, you're a safe driver. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] whoo! we gotta go again. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪liberty♪ born in 1847, formally enslaved, started buying land, was in the house of representatives. finding out this family history, these things become anchors for your soul. ♪ zyrteeeec...♪ works hard at hour one and twice as hard when you take it again the next day. so betty can be the... barcode beat conductor. ♪ go betty! ♪ let's be more than our allergies! zeize the day. with zyrtec. as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for s

balloons went over the continental united states briefly at least three times during the prior administration. senator tester: why didn't we shoot them down over water then? ms. dalton: the duration of this particular balloon was much longer. and information that we have since gleaned about the balloons that have transited globally was only recently discovered. we can share more in the classified setting. senator tester: ok. so we're talking about putting a budget together for the defense department. it was a really robust budget last cycle. i don't remember anything -- hearing about anything that dealt with balloons in the budget. do we have plans the next time this happens? ms. dalton: senator, thank you. as you know, in the national defense strategy from 2022 on the p.r.c. is the pacing challenge. senator tester: i know. what about the balloons? i got all the other stuff, is there money in the budget or if , you're not in that pay grade, do we have a plan for when this happens again and what we're going to do and when we're going to do it? but the truth is, we think we know what they were

airspace coming over the continental united states.rthel: you are intimating earlier that because that action was not taken immediately you feel the u.s. now has been put at a disadvantage and losing whatever leverage that we may have in terms of further future negotiations, or just cut it looking meat week from a military standpoint. it is how you're telling us? >> absolutely. communist china is pushing the envelope so to speak. they see our leader as weak. he is not taken a hard line on defending us here in america and standing up to the chinese government. and now we are seeing they are actually sending balloons into our airspace. going over the nine states of america. arthel: you free some really strong concerns they are. can you pinpoint specifically what you are talking about so our audience will understand how you believe we are vulnerable? >> any of the information they have taken in this balloon in this bible and that's come over the united states as passover military bases. it has passover areas that we do not need to spy bal

maneuver. >> the balloon continues to move eastward and is currently over the center of the continental united stateshat's about as specific as i'm going to get. >> i understand might be inconvenient but does the public not have a right to know? >> hat ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is. >> the balloon is flying at 60,000 square feet which is higher than most u.s. warplanes can fly. defense officials say the u.s. does not fly spy planes or spy balloons over mainland, china. the military advised the president against shooting down the chinese spy balloon for now, pushing back on calls to shoot it down over montana. one u.s. official said to fox there is a lot of empty space in montana but there are also a lot of schools. it's not unpopulated. what happens when this balloon, which is carrying heavy equipment, lands on someone's home or on a kindergarten? the official adds if we shoot it down, the balloon and the equipment on board will plunge to earth at meterioc speed. still have options to bring down the spy balloon when it is safe to do so perhaps when it is over a body of wa