Here's What the Military Is Doing About Balloon Spotted Over Hawaii
Defense And Security,Spying,Surveillance
The Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration spotted a balloon over Hawaii last week but decided against shooting it down.
“Applying newly-established parameters for monitoring U.S. airspace, the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detected and observed April 28th an unmanned, balloon off the coast of Hawaii, floating at approximately 36,000 feet,” a DOD spokesperson said in a statement.
“Ownership of the balloon is unknown, but there is no indication that it was maneuvering or being controlled by a foreign or adversarial actor,” the statement continued. “The balloon did not transit directly over defense critical infrastructure or other U.S. Government sensitive sites, nor did it pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”
The Secretary of Defense therefore agreed that no action needed to be taken against the balloon, which has now left Hawaii’s airspace.
The incident comes after a Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S. earlier this year, hovering over sensitive military sites, before finally getting shot down off the East Coast.
