oren liebermann at the pentagon. let s go arlette at the white house. reporter: president biden offered his first comments on the situation regarding that chinese spy balloon just moments ago, saying they are prepared to take care of it. president biden has been receiving briefings since tuesday, including potential options relating to how they could address this. here is how he answered reporters questions moments ago. you heard president biden say we are going to take care of it. officials here at the white house say the president is consistently being briefed on the various options they have been presented. one option was the possibility of shooting down this plane. that s something they have not ruled out. previously as he was presented that option, he was warned about the potential impact it could have o and impact it could have here on the ground and affecting people. we will see what else the white house and pentagon has to say later today regarding this balloon. it
milley who recommended against shooting it down because of the potential risk to persons and property below. we know there are senior pentagon officials in the building today. it is a saturday, so that is unusual. if the reason you didn t shoot it down over land is because the risk of people and property, that risk no longer there when this floats over the water later today. it was over western tennessee and moving toward eastern tennessee today. we ll keep watching and wait for an update on what the decision is made about what to do with this balloon. pentagon said yesterday they were tracking it count yntinuou. it does not give the chinese any surveillance or intelligence gathering capabilities above and beyond the spy satellites they already have. we ll let you know if anything