FBI Special Agents assigned to the Evidence Response Team process material recovered from the High Altitude Balloon recovered off the coast of South Carolina. The material was processed and transported to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, VA.
Courtesy: FBI
The FBI is analyzing the remains of a Chinese spy balloon that was downed by a U.S. military jet last weekend, but said that much of the evidence remains underwater in the Atlantic Ocean.
“It’s very early for us to assess what the intent was and how the device was operating,” a senior FBI official told reporters in a briefing Thursday, according to NBC News.
“We have literally not seen the payload, which is where we would expect to see the lion’s share of the electronics,” the official said.
Other evidence that has been recovered from the very large debris field has been taken to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, where it is being decontaminated by removing saltwater.
“It’s very early for us in this process and the evidence that has been recovered and brought to the FBI is extremely limited, this is evidence that was only present on the surface,” said a senior FBI official, NBC reported.
“So only a very few items. We can probably characterize that into three types of items, one is the balloon or the canopy itself, some wiring, and then some a very small amount of electronics,” that official said.
FBI Special Agents assigned to the Evidence Response Team process material recovered from the High Altitude Balloon recovered off the coast of South Carolina. The material was processed and transported to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, VA.
Courtesy: FBI
While noting that the FBI is not in possession of a large portion of the evidence believed to be on the ocean floor, an official said, “To date we have not identified any sort of any energetic or offensive material.”
Officials said the FBI, which has never before investigated a balloon of this type, first became involved in the probe of the airship on Feb. 1 when it was…
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