Watch: Moment Chinese ‘spy balloon’ is shot down over coast of South Carolina
Crucial evidence from the Chinese spy balloon shot down by the US military last week has been lost in the Atlantic Ocean.
A senior FBI official told reporters on Thursday that the recovery of the surveillance balloon was complicated by the fact that key parts – including a payload thought to contain most of the electronics – remains underwater off the coast of the US.
“It’s very early for us to assess what the intent was and how the device was operating,” the official said, according to NBC News.
“We have literally not seen the payload, which is where we would expect to see the lion’s share of the electronics.”
Debris recovered so far has been taken to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.
To date, US intelligence has revealed that the balloon, which spent eight days over US airspace, is “part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program” – something which Beijing continues to deny.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that the balloon incident “confirms a pattern of Chinese behaviour” using “different types of intelligence and surveillance platforms” around the world.
