CIA director 'can't say' if Chinese leadership knew of spy balloon before it entered US

Rachel Schilke

February 26, 05:14 PM February 26, 05:30 PM

CIA Director William Burns is unable to say if Chinese President Xi Jinping or others in Chinese leadership were aware that a surveillance balloon was going to traverse across the United States for several days.

While Burns is convinced that Chinese leadership knew the balloon program existed, he said in a Sunday interview on CBS News's Face the Nation that they may not be aware how it was being utilized.

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"I don’t know,” the director said when asked if Xi knew the balloon would be sent to the U.S. “This is something obviously we watch very carefully. I think the Chinese leadership obviously understood that they had launched this capability, that it was an intelligence platform.”

The balloon entered U.S. airspace to Jan. 28 and was shot down Feb. 4 by U.S. fighter jets. Three more objects were shot down over the course of eight days following the balloon's take down, but the original balloon was the only object found with ties to the Chinese.

The trajectory of the balloon indicated that the balloon was hovering over the U.S.'s most sensitive sites, according to Rep. Mike Truner (R-OH), chair of House Intelligence Committee. Turner and several defense officials have said that China appeared to be seeking data on the "command and control of U.S. nuclear weapons and missile defense systems."

“When and what the Chinese leadership knew about the trajectory of this balloon, I honestly can’t say,” Burns said.

The CIA director said it is difficult for any intelligence services to crack into the methods of thinking for authoritarian leaders of any foreign county, but the U.S. is doing the the best intelligence gathering it can.

“It’s always the hardest question for any intelligence service … in an authoritarian system, where power is consolidated so much in the hands of one man, but it’s something we work very hard at,” Burns said.

The Pentagon released images last week of the balloon taken from a U.S. spy plane on Feb. 3 at an estimated height of 60,000 feet. The majority of the balloon's remnants were recovered after being shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

“A lot of materials from the platform that that balloon was carrying, it was clearly an intelligence platform … I think we’ll be able to develop a pretty clear picture of exactly what its capabilities were," Burns said.