US officials were aware of up to four Chinese surveillance balloons, beyond one that flew over the continental US and was shot down in February, according to leaked top intelligence. One balloon flew over a US carrier strike group located in the Pacific Ocean, in an incident that was never reported.
The information comes from documents that were allegedly leaked by Massachusetts air national guard member Jack Teixeira that were first reported by the Washington Post.
The other balloon crashed into the South China Sea. The leaked intelligence also states that US officials had remaining questions about the February Chinese spy balloon, as authorities had not identified several sensors and antennas of the balloon more than a week after it was shot down.
The reports do not include specific information about when the balloons were launched, reported the Post.
Teixeira, 21, is suspected of leaking several classified documents on a Discord chatroom and was arrested on Thursday and charged under the Espionage Act.
A number of documents were leaked in the invitation-only chatroom, including verbatim transcripts and classified documents that were photographed and shared.
In the leaked documents, intelligence officials classify the balloon that was shot down as “Killeen-23‘’.
Other balloons that were referenced in the documents include “Bulger-21” and “Accardo-21”, though it is unclear if these balloons were the same ones that flew over the US carrier group or crashed into the South China Sea.
An unnamed US intelligence official told the Post that the surveillance balloons were named alphabetically, from A to Z, and after infamous criminals such as mobsters Tony Accardo and Donald Killeen.
The leaked document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) also included annotated photos of Killeen-23, in which analysts noted that the balloon could generate enough power to operate “any” surveillance technology such as a radar that could see at night or through clouds and thin material.
Officials also noted that Bulger-21 had advanced surveillance equipment, traveling across the globe from from December 2021 until May 2022.
Accardo-21 had similar equipment and a “foil-lined gimbaled” sensor, analysts noted.
The Pentagon andoffice of the director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the Post’s reporting.
Republicans had heavily criticized the Biden administration in February for not shooting down the Chinese surveillance balloon quickly enough, arguing that it allowed the Chinese government additional time to spy.
