According to CBS news, on February 4th, a spy balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. It spent a couple of days flying 40,000 feet in the air around the Carolina coast. CBS news says, “The Department of Defense confirmed on February 2 the U.S. government was tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon most certainly launched by the People’s Republic of China.” Also, according to CBS news, civilians in Montana spotted the balloon over Malsmstrom air force base, which is where some nuclear weapons are kept. National Security Council spokesman John

Kirby says, “It’s a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight”, meaning it was not safe for people to be around this object. CBS News confirmed with the Defense Department official and Pentagon spokesman that the size of the spy balloon was massive. According to officials, the balloon was believed to be 200 feet tall. Compared to the Statue of Liberty, from the top of the base to the torch measuring 151 feet tall, the spy balloon was “a height taller than New York’s iconic monument”. According to officials, the Chinese spy balloon had surveillance equipment “the size of two to three school buses.” It was finally shot down and broke into pieces around 2:30 p.m.,

but according to CNN, officials first decided against shooting the balloon because they were worried about the falling debris that could potentially hurt civilians or properties on the ground since it weighed a least two thousand pounds. CNN News says, “Pieces of the debris were transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia to be studied further.” According to ABC-7 (Chicago),  “This isn’t the first time China has attempted to spy on the U.S. ” US officials say Beijing uses every tool at its disposal to gain a strategic advantage over the United States, its primary geopolitical rival. But Chinese officials say a similar thing – Beijing has in the past repeatedly accused the US of espionage. China denies that the balloon currently above the US is involved in any kind of espionage, claiming it is a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes” that has been blown off course.