it is a boat ramp and parking lot to the north of where the search is taking place and where for the past three days the navy has prepositioned a lot of the equipment, and a lot of the personnel. it is where we saw a number of boats being brought in this morning and heavy equipment and oxygen tanks. an fbi agent told us earlier that they were securing the event in the event that they might have to bring some of the debris out here, and in the last few minutes, we saw flood lights and a forklift and storage containers. in the main debris site off of the coast of south carolina which is a half hour s drive here, the crews have been using the equipment to essentially scan the bottom of the ocean there to get a sense of how much of this debris is still left there. once they get that done, then they will start the work of lifting the debris out to ship, and most likely bring it out here or to virginia.
oxygen tanks. now, in that actual debris site that s about a half-hour drive from where we are, we re told that crews there are using underwater equipment to scan the bottom of the ocean there to get a clearer picture of all of the debris that still remains. they want to get a good sense of what is out there, before they start the difficult process of getting all of that debris up on to a vessel that will either bring it to this location, we believe. or they might go ahead and take it up to quantico in virginia, where the fbi and other agencies are no doubt going to analyze every single piece of debris associated with this balloon. abby. carlos suarez, thank you have for that report. now, back here in washington, it s a big night for president biden. in just a few hours he s going to head to capitol hill and deliver his second state of the union address as president but it will be his first since republicans took control of the house of representatives. biden s agenda, popularity a
and it is looking like the pieces of the balloon infrastructure taking place off of the coast of south carolina. some of that debris has now made it to the fbi s laboratory in quantico, virginia, to be analyzed where they will try to extract whatever intelligence they can from it. these images released as the china government is saying this morn, hey, that debris, it is ours. it belongs to china and not the united states. good luck getting that back. and now joining us is carlos suarez at myrtle beach, south carolina, near the recovery this morning and oren liebermann is at the pentagon. and beginning with you, carlos, what is the latest on the recovery effort? well, jim and erica, that recovery effort is well under way and a few minutes ago, it appears that the fbi has started to secure an area about 21 miles north of the main debris site and an area just to my right, and it is where for the past three days the navy has
prepositioned a lot of the equipment and boats as well as personnel. in fact, were here bright and early this morning when more boats were brought out, and personnel were brought out, and these folks were carrying the equipment and oxygen tanks and at least two of the boats made their way towards that debris site. now for better part of the day, we are told that crews out of a few miles off of the coast of south carolina, they have been using equipment essentially to try to get a better sense of how much of this balloon is in some shallow water. they have apparently been able to remove all of the debris at the surface of the ocean, and however, they are trying to get a better picture of what is out there, and the hope is that once they are able to do that, they will be able to start the process of removing the debris, but it is our understanding that some of the debris has been put on a shape, and made its way to quantico for the fbi as well as other agencies to get involved,
a blunt perhaps angry statement from the pentagon. it s worth noting the u.s. has spy satellites over china, which is in international law. they conduct flights over international air space of international waters. the pentagon pointing to a clear and legal distinction. a difference between discrete spying, which most countries do, as opposed to the balloon. oren, thank you. ca carlos, what do we know about the status of the search and rover right now? reporter: well, that recovery effort is well under way. we are at a boat ramp about 21 miles from the main debris site out here in south carolina, where the navy has pre-positioned some equipment as well as personnel. we were here last night when teams were coming back in after a good day s work out here. what s taking place up here about 21 miles north of the main