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Balloon and true with a better radar and surveillance system to pick these things up. you couple it together plus the human factor of want to make sure that we don't cause any undue risk to the national security by having a chinese balloon fly over the installations. there's a lot going on that -- where the facts increase quite a bit in the military at this point because there is a risk that a lot of movements could b foreign power or that could be coincidental. we don't know at this point. >> also, what's been rather unique is the use of these fighter jets with the use of missiles to take dow...

Far as how it was moving, did it have any propulsion or moveability. frankly what it looked like despite the fact u.s. fighter jets and fighter pilots had eyes on this and then what it was doing. right at the end of the press conference, the pentagon said it was moving in a northeasterly direction. it had been spotted yesterday and they kept an eye on it since then. eventually the decision was made to shoot it down. it had been roughly at the same altitude throughout the time the u.s. had eyes on it, so with 40,000 feet, which is the upper edge of commercial air traffic. and that brigadier gen...

That's the same type of aircraft and missile that shot down the chinese balloon off the coast of south carolina. one of the questions we asked at the pentagon briefing was if there was so much intelligence to gain by letting the previous balloon fly across the united states and being able to observe it, why was this one shot down so quickly especially when the senators were furious it wasn't shot down earlier. was the pentagon wbowing to political pressure. >> the decision to shoot it down before it entered into u.s. airspace, the pentagon bowing to pressure from the hill? >> we're going to ju...

>> i'm really not that scared. it's a balloon. when the united states goes and spies on china or other countries we use an sr-71 black bird that can fly across the country. here in the united states it set a record being able to fly across the country in like 15 minutes. they have got a balloon take days. amtrak is faster to get across the country. >> jesse: you are saying that the chinese let a little balloon fly over america and they're laughing at us now as we are all just like gapping up into the air? >> i honestly think so. i think this is story much about nothing. goes back to chinese su...

>> thank you, general. thinking about the root of the balloon, was it impossible for the dod to deal with the balloon before it reach to the airspace of the united states? >> yeah, we've been monitoring the balloon. you know, we are aware again, it is maneuverable craft and we continue to assess and make appropriate decisions based on how we're going to address what we perceive as a potential threat or not. the safety and security of the american people is paramount and at this time we assess it does not pose a physical threat to people on the ground. we'll continue to monitor it and review op...