China Took Down Its Spy Balloon After It Flew Over Latin America: US General

U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), attends a hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee in Washington on March 1, 2022. The committee heard testimony on fiscal year 2023 strategic forces posture. Win McNamee/Getty Images

China brought down its balloon after it crossed Latin America around the time another one was flying through the United States, the commanders of U.S. Northern and Southern Command told lawmakers on March 8.

“What I understand is the PRC actually terminated that balloon in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of South America,” Gen. Glen VanHerck, who heads the U.S. Northern Command, told the House Armed Services Committee in a hearing, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. U.S. Southern Command’s head Gen. Laura Richardson confirmed that to be true.

Neither revealed the timing and location of the takedown and the whereabouts of balloon remnants.

The balloon was sighted over Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Venezuela. Beijing had claimed both that balloon and the one the United States shot down off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4 were non-military assets that deviated from their original course.

(L-R) Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, and Gen. Laura Richardson, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, testify during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 24, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

U.S. officials have described the balloons as spying tools aiding the Chinese regime’s global surveillance program, which they said has spanned across five continents.

The remarks were the first time officials reveal what happened to the balloon over Latin America.

In the wake of the Chinese balloon intrusion of U.S. airspace, both chambers of Congress have passed resolutions condemning the act as a “brazen violation of United States sovereignty.”

VanHerck said in his opening statement that the balloon incursion demonstrated the “limitations of our domain awareness and the impediments we face in getting information into the hands of decision-makers quickly.”

A balloon is held at a press conference and rally in front of the America ChangLe Association highlighting Beijing's transnational repression, in New York City on Feb. 25, 2023. A now-closed overseas Chinese police station is located inside the association building. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

“The PRC high altitude balloon was obviously a significant event that shined a light on the PRC’s brazen intelligence collection against the United States and Canada,” he said. “It was the first time in NORTHCOM’s history we conducted an engagement over the United States and it made clear that our competitors have the capability and intent to reach our homeland.”

To close that gap, VanHerck said, the United States needs to modernize its radar system deployed during the Cold War era to allow detection of threats coming into U.S. airspace and cyberspace.

“Absolutely, there’s a vulnerability there,” he said. “The first thing I would say is: field as soon as possible the over-the-horizon capabilities the department has already funded in last year’s budget. So we need to go faster.”