(UPDATE) The Department of Defense confirmed that balloon debris recovered off the coast of Alaska last month appeared to have been in the ocean for “well over a year.”
Sue Gough, a Department of Defense spokesperson, confirmed to Fox News Digital that an initial inspection of the balloon “indicated” that it had been “in the ocean for well over a year.”
“Some material has been transferred to U.S. government facilities for further examination and analysis,” Gough said.
The balloon was first spotted by U.S. military aircraft and determined not to be a threat in Feb. The origin of this balloon and its purpose are not yet known, two officials previously told Fox News Digital.
The balloon drifted east in the jet stream. A year ago, a Chinese spy balloon was discovered and shot down after it flew over the U.S. for several days.
The Pentagon said in June that while the Chinese balloon had “intelligence collection capabilities,” it didn’t collect any data before it was shot down. “We also took steps to mitigate the potential efforts of that balloon,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in June.
Intelligence agencies have concluded that the spy balloon was used for spying, not weather-related issues as China had claimed.
Information captured by the spy balloon is not believed to have been successfully sent back to Beijing. It is unclear why the spy mission seemed to fail, but officials said intelligence agencies used countermeasures to prevent data collection.
