A high altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. The huge, high-altitude Chinese balloon sailed across the U.S. on Friday, drawing severe Pentagon accusations of spying and sending excited or alarmed Americans outside with binoculars. Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly canceled a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing U..S.-China tensions.(Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says the Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for “several years.” The Pentagon press secretary says when similar balloons passed over U.S. territory on four occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons. It was only “subsequent intelligence analysis” that allowed the U.S. to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn “a lot more” about the program. The spokesman, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, refused to provide any new details about those previous balloons on Wednesday.