Navy releases photos of sunken Chinese spy balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach

Source: US Navy

The FAA closed airspace near the Atlantic on Saturday as the Pentagon prepared to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon.

At 2:40 pm ET, just off the coast of South Carolina, the Pentagon shot down the spy balloon.

Watch the video:

Running: What’s going on? The U.S. military now says six Chinese spy balloons were spotted during the Trump years — but no one was reported

On Tuesday, the US Navy posted photos of sailors retrieving parts of Chinese spy surveillance.

Pictures posted on Twitter by the United States Fleet Forces show sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recovering a piece of the balloon on Sunday.

“US Navy Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recovered a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on February 5, 2023,” the agency wrote on Twitter.

Source: US Navy

Source: US Navy

Source: US Navy

The Hill Report:

The Navy is still in the middle of the cleanup, which began Sunday after an F-22 downed the balloon seven miles off the coast on Saturday. Sailors aboard several ships continue to scan for debris from the approximately 200-foot aerial object that has spent days floating across the country. The balloon carried a device roughly the size of a regional jet, General Glenn VanHark, head of the US Northern Command, told reporters on Monday.

Authorities advised not to touch possible pieces of the balloon that may have washed up on the shoreline because they are “part of a federal investigation and tampering could interfere with that investigation,” according to Myrtle Beach city government.

The balloon incident has sparked sharp criticism of the Biden administration by Republican lawmakers — and some Democrats — for what they call a failure to protect national security because the object flew over the country for a week before being brought down.

Lawmakers announced Monday that they plan to investigate the administration for allowing a foreign adversary’s surveillance device to violate U.S. airspace.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said six Chinese spy balloons had been spotted over US territory during the Trump years.

But no one in the Trump administration or the leadership of the US intelligence community was informed.

The story is changing by the hour.

And General Keith Kellogg, who was the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the US National Security Council in the Trump administration, said he was never informed!