It was not the first Chinese balloon over the United States. Why were the others ignored? : NPR

The alleged Chinese spy balloon is drifting towards the ocean after being shot down off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina, on Saturday.

Randall Hill/Reuters

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Randall Hill/Reuters

The alleged Chinese spy balloon is drifting towards the ocean after being shot down off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina, on Saturday.

Randall Hill/Reuters

Given the hype around the Chinese watch balloon, you’d think something like this had never happened before.

But it is. At least four more times in recent years.

According to a senior US defense official, Chinese balloons have crossed the United States at least three times under the Trump administration and at least one other time earlier under the Biden administration.

However, these previous aerial incursions were brief and deemed insignificant. The reports apparently did not work their way up the military chain of command, let alone reach the White House.

“I can’t remember anyone ever walking into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon over the United States,” Mark Esper, who served as secretary, told CNN. at Defense under the Trump administration.

Trump called the reports “false misinformation” on social media.

Representative Michael Waltz, a Republican from Florida, said defense officials identified the locations of previous balloon incursions when briefing lawmakers over the weekend. The Washington Post reported locations included Texas, Florida, Hawaii and Guam.

In all cases, the overflights were brief and not considered significant, according to defense officials, who say they monitor many balloon flights, which are generally non-military in nature.

A very different incident this time

Last week’s episode was very different due to the balloon’s time over the United States and the fact that it was moving close to sensitive military sites.

US officials say it is still unclear what the Chinese motive was. The United States believes that Chinese satellites have acquired the same or very similar information through the use of satellites.

China has used balloons to monitor many other countries in recent years, which is somewhat confusing to US officials.

China’s massive spy program is top notch. And this balloon operation over the United States was considered clumsy and clumsy.

The Chinese must have known that a large balloon—visible to civilians with the naked eye—would be detected. This raises the possibility that one of the Chinese objectives was to see how the United States would react to this kind of provocation.

The clear answer is that it sparked a partisan squabble in the United States. Republicans are attacking President Biden for not putting the ball down sooner, while most Democrats are defending the president for taking a measured approach.

The episode also heightened US-China tensions and led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip this week to China where he planned to meet with top leaders in a bid to reduce friction.

Shot down off the coast of South Carolina

A US Air Force plane fired a single missile to shoot down the balloon just off South Carolina on Saturday afternoon. The military said it waited until the balloon was no longer over the United States to eliminate the possibility that falling debris could injure people.

China, which claimed it was a weather balloon that veered off course, criticized the US response.

“The use of force by the United States is an overreaction and a serious violation of international practice,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

US Navy divers attempt to recover key equipment. They work in waters less than 50 feet deep, which increases the likelihood of finding key equipment like sensors or other monitoring devices.

Still, the debris is spread over several miles, and even if the Chinese surveillance equipment is found, it’s unclear what condition it is in.

It is also unclear whether the United States or China obtained any material information about this incident.

US officials, however, believe they have already learned a few lessons by tracking the balloon closely for a week before shooting it down.

Although the United States did not release details, it attempted to electronically jam the Chinese equipment to prevent it from retransmitting back to China. Security has also been tightened at sensitive military sites in an effort to protect the balloon from collection of material.

If Navy divers recover the Chinese equipment, it could provide insight into what the Chinese were looking for, what information the balloon actually obtained, and whether US measures on the ground actually thwarted the surveillance.

Greg Myre is a national security correspondent for NPR. Follow him @gregmyre1.