that is the east coast of the state, a few hours ago, they cleared that airport, grounded the planes, nothing coming in and nothing coming out. and the reason we now know was because they had a planned operation that balloon. let s remind you what this balloon looked like what we have been tracking for a few days. the white balloon. that s been. and then came down across the us. there have been attempts to shoot it down, not done because of the risk of falling debris. also, this seems to not be a huge security risk to the us, given what the balloon was and the fact that chinese satellites could get information just as well is this balloon. decision was taken to wait till it got over to the sea, where the risk to people was much less. they shut the air space and we now know they have just shut it down, according to a reuters photographer at the scene. joining me now is our north america correspondent, david willis. hi, david. this is happening just before he came on air. what
the department of defence to develop options to take down the blue safety over our territorial waters while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities. this action was to cash taken in coordination and with the simple support of the canadian government and we thank them. the reason why they are thinking cap motor is because you may remember it spent a bit of time over canada over to montana, and that is where those sensitive security sites in the us were, and that is where with this chinese surveillance balloon. and thatis chinese surveillance balloon. and that is when this news went global, and since then, we have been tracking it heading and now no more, now it is in the waters, us waters just off south carolina. if now it is in the waters, us waters just off south carolina. now it is in the waters, us waters just off south carolina. if you were here earlier. just off south carolina. if you were here earlier, my just off south carolina. if you w
that was launched by, i m balloon that was launched by, i m quoting, belonging to the people s republic of china. just to bring you a couple of those lines again this is directly from the pentagon. was brought down above us territorial waters. president biden gave his authorisation to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to american lives under the balloon s path. this is coming out to the point that i was just mentioning. us military commanders had determined to down the balloon pose an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude.
could be accomplished without risk to american lives under the balloon s path. us military commanders had determined downing the balloon posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and surveillance payment. in accordance with the president s direction, the department of defence developed options. will closely monitoring its path. this action was taken and in coordination with the full support of the canadian government, and we thank canada for his contribution to tracking and analysis through the balloon. today s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that president biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the american