John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, said the U.S. intelligence community was directed by President Joe Biden to conduct an assessment of China’s intelligence capabilities and found that the country has a high-altitude balloon program used for gathering intelligence and is linked to its army, DOD News reported Monday.
“We know that these [Chinese] surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries on multiple continents around the world, including some of our closest allies and partners,” Kirby told the media on Monday.
He noted that Biden has directed the secretaries of the departments of Defense and State and the director of national intelligence to share information with their counterparts and gain their insights on these aerial objects.
The Department of Commerce’s bureau of industry and security added to the Entity List six organizations for backing China’s military modernization initiatives, including those related to balloons and airships the Chinese army uses to perform collection and reconnaissance missions.
Kirby’s statement came a day after North American Aerospace Defense Command detected and shot down an aerial object that had flown over Lake Huron in Michigan.