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state department's assessment of what this balloon was used for. that had been a bit of a question after that initial fbi briefing that we're getting clarity on? >> so the fbi is beginning to sift through some of this debris that's been extracted out of the water off south carolina, but much of the evidence is still under water but they said that's right, whatever they have seen so far including pieces of the balloon very much is consistent with the balloon being some kind of a surveillance airship. now, the state department today give us some more details. they said that supply planes took high resolution photos of that balloon, eves dropping and picking up radio signals, multiple antennas, attached to the balloon, and solar panels that generated enough power, saying all the spying equipment could work. they also said this balloon is part of a program operated by the chinese military, and that the manufacturer of the balloon is basically part of the chinese defense industry, and is an
military. adding the spy craft had multiple antennas to collect and geolocate communications and solar panels large enough to power intelligence collection sensors. >> the tool package and equipment package on that balloon was enormous and not able to jam the transmissions and we don't know the extend of the program. >> further classified details shared with the house and senate today inside a closed door briefing. republicans left still convinced the administration should have shot the balloon down over alaska or montana. >> they could have taken that balloon down and the greatest risk would have been hitting a cow, a prairie dog or antelope. >> democrats felt it was right to wait until it floated over water. >> i do think it made sense for us to learn something about this balloon given it really posed no threat to the united states.
wish i had that when i was a kid! local news continues streaming on cbs bay area and we thank you so much ♪ ♪ >> norah: tonight, hope starts to fade in turkey and syria as the death toll surpasses 21,000. and a humanitarian crisis unfolds. people looking for shelter andm. turkey's president calls the devastating earthquake the disaster of the century. tonight, cbs's chris livesay is in turkey with stories of loss and of miracles. >> we were able to see the outlines of what appears to be bodies who were sleeping in bed at the time this building collapsed, and right in front of me is a bag of children's toys. >> norah: new pictures tonight of the fbi studying that a chinese spy balloon. as the u.s. government reveals the aircraft had antennas and
china over the spy balloon. mr. chairman, thanks for being here. >> thanks, bret. >> bret: how serious do you think this is understanding you've received this classified briefing and what you can and cannot tell us but how serious is it? >> i think it's very serious. i think these lower flying balloons can collect data, not to get into specifics, but the lower you are to the ground, the better collection you get. i think that's what china has been trying to do here. there's speculation and reports about the balloons going back to previous administrations. there was an air force report that maybe as far back adds 2019 and what i worry about, brett, it's been reported as well there's been transmission through the antennas and wall street journal this was all going back to beijing and the mother ship. it leads me to the question why in the world didn't we shoot this thing down the minute it entered u.s. air space over the
were asking questions, specifically people like jon tester of montana, lisa murkowski of alaska, they were pointed in the questions they were asking of administration officials, and you could see there was clear frustration both over how this was handled and over the lack of transparency from the administration. officials were able to be more forthcoming behind closed doors in a classified nature with lawmakers. several emerged said there should be levels of transparency on this circumstance and what happens on a circumstance like this going forward. >> thank you. let me go to you. nbc news was the first to report the plane fly byes the u.s. used to get pictures of the balloon. we're getting details of what the pictures show us, including multiple antennas used for collecting signals. talk about the state department, the clarification we have been getting on the air saying they have seen nothing now that would contradict the government, the
because before the balloon was shot down, you two spy planes flew by it, taking high-resolution photos of what officials described as an array of antennas for intercepting communications. >> i am so angry. i want to use other words. but i'm not going to. >> you guys have to help me understand why this baby wasn't taken out long before. >> reporter: jon tester is the democratic senator from montana, where ball over fielf h tercnental bstic on t comcationed for the command and control of nuclear weapons. >> i've got a problem with the chinese balloon flying over my state. much less the rest of the country. >> reporter: soon after the balloon was spotted in the sky. >> what the heck is that? >> reporter: a u.s. official said it stopped hovering over the missile field and proceeded across the rest of the country.
that can't happen again. john tester, democrat, held an oversight hearing on the china balloon grilling defense officials. >> i want to know if we knew what the chinese were trying to collect with that reconnaissance balloon. >> senator, thanks for the question. what we can probably get into details more in a -- >> you can say yes or no. you don't need to get into specifics did we know what they're trying to collect? the truth is we think we know what they're trying to collect. we don't know. that scares the hell out of me. >> yeah, i imagine what also probably scared them is all of this new information we're getting as we pull those pieces of debris out of the waters, off of the shores of south carolina and learn more about this spy craft, the multiple antennas that were a part of it to collect geo location communications, the solar panels
>> martha: fbi agents hard at work examining what is left of this spy balloon. it had multiple antennas. lawmakers on the hill wrapping up classified briefings on the growing threat from china. >> everything i learned today confirms that the administration made the right decision. >> there's nothing in there that i learned that would have said that we shouldn't have shot it down when it was over alaska. >> general philip breedlove just told congress that china may be conditioning the united states with these spy flights. he explains that in just moments. first to mike garcia. he sits on the house intelligence committee and a navy veteran that flew 30 combat missions in iraq. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> martha: you're on the intel committee. do you think that the president
>> reporter: in february of last year, a balloon was spotted over the hawaiian islands and get flyers scrambled to inspect it. this balloon was spotted over costa rica. turns out, chinese balloons have been violating airspace all over the world, much of the time without anyone noticing. until last week, when everybody noticed. secretary austen said the navy has recovered the parts of the e surface and has mapped out the debris field of pieces of cameras and antennas that are lying on the ocean floor. he expects it will take days to bring them all up. norah? >> norah: david martin with that exclusive interview. david, thank you. tonight, we have an update on that toxic train wreck, as residents along the ohio-pennsylvania border can finally return home. trn dement, f a ntrolledn that a d of fumes into the air. authorities say they have not
significantly tipped out of the plane of orbits of other planets. more than half of pluto's volume is comprised of ice. if you brought pluto to where earth is now, heat from the sun would evaporate that ice and grow a tail. that's not behavior for a planet. >> do you believe that there is life out there somewhere? >> i would say that if there weren't life, it would be astonishing. if -- given how common our ingredients are and how quickly life took place and how many planets are or biting the stars >> what about aliens and ufos. >> any life is aliens. you mean are antennas and ray guns? >> anything without a cell. >> something that could land in a spaceship? could be out there. there is no evidence that would convince an authentic stkeptic that we've been visited and i can tell you this, these fuzzy