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Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Washington, DC, 2022.
CNN
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Three people familiar with the matter told CNN that commercial fishermen off the coast of Alaska discovered what authorities fear was another possible reconnaissance balloon and brought it to shore.
FBI agents are scheduled to meet with the fishing boat as it enters port, which is expected to occur over the weekend. The agency will then transport the unknown object to an FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis, as it has done with previous surveillance balloons.
Officials said that when the fishmen encountered the object, they shared photos of it with police. All three sources stressed that it is not clear exactly what the object is and that it may not be a balloon, but the FBI said it is similar enough in appearance to a surveillance balloon owned by a foreign government. It concluded that the investigation was warranted and further investigation was warranted. investigation.
The FBI said in a statement Friday night that it was “aware of wreckage discovered off the coast of Alaska by a commercial fishing vessel.” We will continue to work with our partners to support the logistics of debris recovery. ”
CNN was unable to identify the fishing boat.
The existence of high-altitude surveillance balloons quickly entered the American consciousness last year when a Chinese reconnaissance balloon appeared to veer off course and fly over the U.S. mainland. The balloon entered U.S. territory through Alaskan airspace.
As CNN reported at the time, the US assessed the reconnaissance balloons as part of a broader surveillance program by the Chinese military. The balloon fleet has flown at least 20 missions on at least five continents in recent years, U.S. officials said.
China appears to have suspended the show following the episode, but it is unclear whether it has been restarted. In January, Taiwan accused China of allowing balloons to pass through its airspace.
The Biden administration ultimately shot down a balloon that flew over the United States last February. In response to this incident, the United States widened the aperture of its radar systems to better detect objects moving at a certain speed above a certain altitude. Gen. Glenn VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the goal was to allow three other suspected Chinese spy balloons to pass undetected over the U.S. mainland under the Trump administration. The aim was to correct the “gap in domain awareness'' that had made this possible. at that time.
More sensitive radar systems have enabled the U.S. military to spot more unidentified objects in U.S. airspace. In the weeks following the Chinese balloon incident, three more incidents of unidentified high-altitude objects were shot down. Just last week, the North American Aerospace Defense Command sent fighter jets to intercept and investigate a small balloon drifting east over the southwest region. NORAD later said in a statement that the balloon was “probably a hobby balloon” and posed no threat.
The Pentagon has said that Chinese surveillance balloons did not collect information while flying over China, but U.S. intelligence agencies use U.S. internet service providers to collect short navigation and location data. It was discovered that they were being sent to China on a regular basis. According to US officials.
The network connection was not used to send information to China, the official said. The balloon stored information, including images and other data, that the United States was then able to study.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
