What a bizarre story. The Communist Chinese have a high-altitude spy balloon over the United States – over Montana – and they are collecting information over sensitive sites. But we are not shooting it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe US has been tracking a Chinese spy balloon that has been floating over the northern part of the country for days, Pentagon officials announced Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A top Pentagon official said the US intelligence community has \u201cvery high confidence\u201d that the balloon belongs to the People\u2019s Republic of China and has been flying over sensitive sites to collect information for the past two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The official, speaking anonymously, said that one of the locations the balloon has been spotted was over Montana \u2014 home to one of the US\u2019 three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fighter jets \u2014 including F-22s \u2014 were prepared to shoot the balloon down at President Biden\u2019s direction and he was presented with options after which he proposed that the balloon be shot down, but his military leaders recommended against it out of safety concerns for civilians on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters in a brief statement that the balloon is\u201ccurrently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.\u201d . . . <\/p>\nVia NEW YORK POST<\/strong><\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n