United States officials are considering shooting down the Chinese spy balloon once it crosses over the Atlantic, according to reports.
A senior U.S. official told Fox News about the plan on Saturday after ABC News reported on Friday that a similar plan was being considered.
‘SHOOT. IT. DOWN’: REPUBLICANS CALL FOR CHINESE SPY BALLOON TO BE BLOWN OUT OF SKY
The FAA issued a ground stop and airpsace clearance for parts of North Carolina and South Carolina and operations at Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington were paused for “national security initiatives” just after 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The FAA has paused departures from and arrivals to Wilmington (ILM), Myrtle Beach International (MYR) and Charleston International (CHS) airports to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) February 4, 2023
President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday the government would “take care” of the balloon, which reportedly entered U.S. airspace on Tuesday but wasn’t confirmed by officials until Thursday evening.
The craft, which China has insisted is a weather monitoring device that has been blown off course, is believed to have made its way over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and through Canadian air space before entering the continental United States.
Pentagon officials denied China’s claims the balloon was a meteorological device, saying they “know that it’s a surveillance balloon.”
“And I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that,” Department of Defense spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Friday. “We do know that the balloon has violated U.S. airspace and international law, which is unacceptable. And so we’ve conveyed this directly to the PRC at multiple levels,” he told reporters, a day after the department disclosed it was aware of the incursion.”
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The reaction from lawmakers was swift, with several Republicans, and some Democrats, expressing frustration that Biden had not done more to stop the craft or informing them about its presence.
“I’m demanding answers from the Biden Administration,” Tester said in a Friday statement. “I will be pulling people before my committee to get real answers on how this happened, and how we can prevent it from ever happening again.”
