A Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. in February gathered intelligence from several sensitive U.S. military sites, NBC News reported Monday.
That intel was gathered in spite of efforts by the Biden Administration to block it from doing so, sources told NBC.
Before the Pentagon shot it down off in waters off the coast of South Carolina, China was reportedly able to control the balloon so that it could make multiple passes over some military sites and transmit gathered information to Beijing.
As opposed to visual images, the intel China gathered was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, according to sources.
Officials said China could have potentially gathered much more intelligence but for U.S. efforts to block it.
In response to NBC’s reporting, the Defense Department pointed to comments made by senior officials back in February that the balloon had “limited additive value” for intel collection “over and above what [China] is likely able to collect through things like satellites in low earth orbit.”
The balloon sparked the recent increased tensions between the U.S. and China—or at least was used as an excuse by China to do so. China has repeatedly asserted that it was merely an unmanned civilian balloon that strayed off course, and that the U.S. overreacted in shooting it down.
