entailed. instead, they tried to flip the script, monitoring it constantly and tried to learn about it as it traversed the united states. there were days of planning to figure out the best possible time to shoot this down. in fact, it was decided not to shoot it down over the continental united states because of the risk to people and property. instead, that decision was made out over the water. the pentagon and northern command launched f-22s from langley air force base in hampton, v.a., as well as support aircraft and tankers as well. in the end it was a single f-22 that fired a side winder that pierces the balloon, one shot, one kill, breaking down and bringing down the surveillance balloon that we watched as it made its way across the u.s. that is the military side, the diplomatic side as well. the u.s. making it clear they found this unacceptable and considered a violation of u.s. air space, and now we have seen
earlier this week but the pentagon recommended against it at this time. where do they go from here? the state department and the pentagon have made it clear they view it as a violation of u.s. air space, a violation, a breach of international law, and they view this severely ahead of a high stakes visit, or planned visit, i should say, of secretary of state antony blinken to beijing. it was to be the first time the top u.s. diplomat has visited china in beijing in six years and the chinese took this very seriously, especially with high tensions. so for this to have happened, a major mistake on their part, and they have apologized, multiple times, and said look, this was just a weather balloon that was barely controllable, it was pulled over the u.s. by winds, and the u.s. has made it clear they re not buying that explanation. they ve delayed or postponed at least the trip of blinken to china. and now, the question, where does this go from here? first is there more diplomatic fallout? s
liebermann and will ripley in taiwan. what had more are you hearing about the pentagon? reporter: the pentagon has been tracking this balloon for where it is and where it has been from when it was first spotted over montana. it was then spotted in places like kansas city and missouri. now with the sun coming up over the east coast and the expected flow of the jet stream, we expect that pretty soon we should start seeing sightings this morning, somewhere over the carolinas, two defense officials tell cnn the anticipated flow of this brings it out over the east coast somewhere over the carolinas at some point today. that s what we re all watching. so far the u.s. response has been largely diplomatic. secretary of state antony blinken postponing his trip to china bouz of this. the pentagon called it an invice of u.s. air space and a breaking of international law. you see the gravity with which the u.s. views this. nobody here really buying the
self steering capability, it deviated far from the planned course. the chinese side regrets the unintended entry into u.s. air space, the chinese side will continue communicating with the u.s. and properly handle this unexpected situation cause. the chinese are trying to emphasize that they did not have control over where this balloon actually ended up. that it strayed far from its coors and not on purpose. clearly trying to ease tensions but the u.s. is not necessarily buying that. and just a few minutes ago, during a press briefing the pentagon press secretary said, looking we know that this balloon was not just the weather and it is actually for intelligence gathering purposes. we are aware of the prc s installment however, fact is we know that it s a surveillance balloon i m not going to be able to be more specific. we do know that the balloon violated u.s. air space and international law, which is unacceptable and so we ve conveyed this directly to the