are a lot of activities that we can continue to monitor to include this balloon program, and we've learned a lot over the last couple of years. >> the classified version has balloons in it. >> i would have to go back and look. i don't have the answer to that. thanks, let me get a couple of other folks here. mike. >> reporter: the only reason the american people know about the first balloon is a couple of guys in montana spotted it, and it leaked out. my question is if it had remained secret and not become a spectacle, and arguably an embarrassment to the white house, would you have shot it down or allowed it to continue on its way in. >> you're asking me to speculate? so, mike, i'll kind of just push back a little bit at the assertion there. so first of all, again, what made this balloon different was the length and duration that it was over the continental united states. look, we track activities all over the globe on a daily basis.