Congress meets on China balloon, U.S. Navy picks up the pieces

The U.S. House Armed Services Committee met Tuesday to discuss the threat China poses to U.S. national security and interests. The meeting featured guests—including Ret. U.S. Navy Admiral Harry B. Harris and Dr. Melanie W. Sisson—who answered questions about China and U.S.-China policy. The committee’s Republican leaders said they were concerned over the growth of China’s “rapidly expanding nuclear deterrent.” The meeting comes after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

Where is the balloon now? The U.S. Navy is currently scouring the ocean bed off the South Carolina coast for every last piece of the balloon. The balloon is headed to the FBI lab at Quantico, Va., where experts will examine it. U.S. military officials say the balloon’s debris is scattered across an area 15 football fields long, 15 football fields wide, and roughly 50 feet deep. China has maintained that the balloon was a civilian research aircraft that blew off course, and has said it will “safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” about the balloon.

Dig deeper: Read William Inboden’s column in WORLD Opinions about whether this Chinese spy balloon incident will wake up America.