• A U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jet fired a missile to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon 6 miles off the South Carolina coast.
• The balloon had been flying above the U.S. for the last four days and was the size of three buses and weighed more than 1,000 pounds.
• U.S. defense officials took steps to protect against the balloon’s collection of sensitive information and the Navy will recover the equipment from the shallow waters where it fell.
• It is believed that the balloon was trying to gather intelligence information and the incident has been used by Republicans to score political points.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his planned visit to Beijing over the incident and it has offered Biden’s opponents an opportunity to say he is not countering China strongly enough.
Published February 5, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 4, 2023
