this situation. we re awaiting that. we ll hear the president s plan, we re told, of action. china today claims that balloon is just a civilian air ship used for research and that it got blown off course. all the way to montana? it just so happens that it was very close to a sensitive site in that state. 1 of 3 in the nation with nuclear weapon silos. it also houses ballistic missiles. montana in red on the map for a reason this hour. deafening reaction so far, bipartisan lawmakers biden allowing on-demand access to our u.s. airspace is dangerous. it is not okay. some republicans, including 2024 hopeful nikki haley, calling on president biden to shoot it down. congressman andy biggs calling biden a affectless commander in chief. secretary of state antony blink en was scheduled to travel to beijing but now the trip is postponed indefinitely. senator tom cotton says biden must answer as to why he hasn t secured u.s. airspace. the president walking away from questions moments ag
over the continental united states. the public has the ability to look up in the sky and see why the balloon is. john: look up and smile, that was the pentagon, moments ago senator roger marshall announcing the balloon is over his state, hovering over northeast kansas. gillian: for years we have been following beijing s spra spra sprawling apparatus, and now it s hanging over the heads of millions of americans. telling fox it s intentional and calling it a violation of u.s. sovereignty. the balloon is about the size of two school busses head to tail. pentagon says it will linger over the country a few more days. john: the president was briefed on tuesday. is he going to take any action? i m john roberts in washington. of all the things you never thought you would talk about, would this be near the top of your list? gillian: no, but interesting, makes for good discussion points, a whole range of issues. gillian turner in for sandra smith. that balloon is one of a whole
you can see the piece on the bottom of it. that is the piece that gathers the intelligence for this what loan. we ve known about this being in the skies over our country illegally for several days at least. some say going back months. so far, we have not done anything to impede this balloon from collecting surveillance over the country even though it s of clear violation of u.s. airspace. no word from the president of the united states at 3:00 eastern time. we ve known about this since last night really. twice now he has avoided shouted questions. watch this. mr. president, when will you remove the balloon? when and how will you remove the balloon, mr. president? [question inaudible] are you worried about the balloon? martha: apparently not worried about the balloon as he walks across the lawn there. we know that it launched this instrument from china. you can see on that quick animation. maybe we can play it again from mainland china. now it has hovered over montana, h
synagogue attack. new details about the man charged with trying to firebomb a large synagogue in new jersey. eye on america, the effort to save america s largest coral reef. cbs s manuel bojorquez takes us there. we ll show you what s happening inside this lab. norah: plus eye drop recall after an over-the-counter brand was linked to vision loss and one death. and the young singer hitting all the right notes on her journey to the grammy awards. to explain announcer: this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell, reporting from the nation s capital. norah: good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us on this thursday night. we come on the air tonight with some breaking news. we have just learned that the pentagon is tracking a suspected chinese spy balloon spotted flying over the united states. president biden was briefed, fighter jets scrambled, and there was a discussion at the highest levels of our government about shooti
tensions with china. nbc news was first to report the suspected chinese surveillance balloon hovering over the northern united states around montana for the past few days. china is now responding claiming it is a civilian airship used for weather research that was blown off course. but how credible is that claim? minutes ago we learned secretary of state antony blinken is postponing his trip to china for what was supposed to be a highly anticipated meeting with china s leader next week. the pentagon is set to hold a briefing in the next hour. we know the department of defense is tracking the balloon closely, even at one point discussing shooting it down. we even have air traffic audio from wednesday about a, quote, special mission. we just got alerted from salt lake tmu we re on a ground stop right now until further notice for a special mission going on over the livingston area. we don t know exactly when we can have our next departure. it is landing with a thud on capito