The U.S. military has shot down the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean near Surfside Beach, SC https://t.co/qaOUWCB0cB

— Trey Paul (@TreyPaulTV) February 4, 2023

BREAKING - US military jets circle in closed airspace as this man watches balloon from China approaches Surfside Beach SC @WBTWNews13 pic.twitter.com/0AHXwSoabN

— PCBS (@PCBSNews19) February 4, 2023

The #ChineseSpyBalloon and a couple fighter jets flying over my house in Surfside Beach next to #MyrtleBeach right now. This wasn't on my list of things I might see this year. pic.twitter.com/XpZGXN2kZm

— Caleb Wygal (@calebwygal) February 4, 2023

Fox News is showing a remarkable live shot of the spy balloon coming apart. "It is now falling from the sky," @ArthelNeville reports pic.twitter.com/ZmQ7joIkAG

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 4, 2023

4 hours ago my entire town was freaking over the balloon flying over us. Now it’s finally been shot down over Surfside Beach! pic.twitter.com/UCCBmP5Wmp

— Melissa (@melissa_land) February 4, 2023

“They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it.”
pic.twitter.com/N5uRFGO24c

— Adrienne Watson (@Watson_Adrienne) February 4, 2023

Notable: US officials say they were able to block the balloon from gathering intel during its overflight of the US, while the US military was able to turn the tables, so to speak, to gather intel on the balloon itself and its equipment.

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 4, 2023

Biden handled the Chinese Spy Balloon flawlessly. The Pentagon was able to collect data from the Chinese balloon while simultaneously preventing the balloon from gathering US data. He ignored the cries from Marjorie Greene and Jim Jordan -- and the country is safer because of it.

— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) February 5, 2023

U.S. officials say that efforts ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped identify last week’s spy balloon — and determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration. https://t.co/sdXlOcVbDV

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 6, 2023

“What the Chinese have done is taken an unbelievably old technology, and basically married it with modern communications and observation capabilities” to try to glean intelligence on other nations’ militaries, said one official. “It’s a massive effort.” https://t.co/ALXjLu2pF6

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 8, 2023

“On Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led a briefing on China’s balloon espionage for some 150 people from about 40 embassies, said a senior administration official…Separately, U.S. officials have begun to share specifics with officials in countries such as Japan

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 8, 2023

“whose military facilities were targeted by Beijing…

In Japan in 2020, an aerial orb drew speculation. ‘Some people thought this was a UFO,’ said a Japanese official. ‘In hindsight people are realizing that was a Chinese espionage balloon….’

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 8, 2023

“In recent years, at least 4 balloons have been spotted over Hawaii, Florida, Texas & Guam — in addition to the 1 tracked last week. Three of the four instances took place during the Trump administration but were only recently identified as Chinese surveillance airships.

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 8, 2023

“Other balloons have been spotted in Latin America and allied countries in the Pacific, officials have said.

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 8, 2023

“Monitoring the recent balloon helped fill in gaps about the four others, officials said. The U.S. military sent up fighter jets & other aircraft over the past week to observe the airship. A Chinese spy balloon that crashed off the Hawaiian islands last June also yielded helpful

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 8, 2023

US shoots down another UFO over Lake Huron making this the 4th object downed in a week

Check out this article: https://t.co/gCZCz0FyeM

— Kryreth (@Kryreth) February 12, 2023