Fishermen Find Suspected Spy Balloon Floating Off the Coast of Alaska

Fishermen have found a suspected spy balloon off the coast of Alaska that will be handed over to the FBI.

The commercial fishermen are bringing the unmanned object to shore so it can be investigated at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.

They are expected to hand over the balloon to federal officials over the weekend.

The discovery comes just over a year after a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina after traversing across the U.S.

That surveillance balloon also entered the U.S. through Alaskan airspace.

The origin of the latest balloon is unclear. But CNN reported that federal law enforcement saw enough evidence that it could be foreign-owned.

After last year’s spy balloon debacle, it was determined that Beijing operated a wide-ranging surveillance network.

That balloon entered U.S. airspace over Alaska in January and eventually flew over a U.S. military base in Montana before it was shot down by an F-22 Raptor off the coast of South Carolina.

In June, the Pentagon said it had ‘intelligence collection capabilities,’ but U.S. officials could not confirm if China collected information in real-time.

The discovery then provoked Beijing, which vowed countermeasures, adding yet another strain to a relationship already battered by trade practices, tariffs, Taiwan, human rights, and China’s ties with Russia before President Vladimir Putin launched his Ukraine invasion.

Republicans criticized President Joe Biden for not having it downed sooner. The incident prompted a period when the military shot down other unidentified objects.

The earlier incident forced Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a planned trip to China while criticizing it as an ‘irresponsible act.’

In June, the president said he didn’t think ‘the leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it and knew what was going on,’ calling it ‘more embarrassing than it was intentional.’

China claimed the balloon was being used for weather-related issues, even though intelligence agencies concluded that it was used for spying.

Just last week, the Defense Department revealed that it intercepted a high-altitude balloon over Utah.

The Pentagon determined the high-altitude balloon found last Friday and intercepted by the U.S. military was ‘likely’ a ‘hobby balloon.’

In a statement on Saturday, NORAD, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, said the mystery balloon was monitored from ground radars ‘until it left U.S. airspace overnight.’

‘The balloon was intercepted by NORAD fighters over Utah, who determined it was not maneuverable and did not present a threat to national security,’ NORAD said.

‘The FAA also determined the balloon posed no hazard to flight safety. NORAD remains in close coordination with the FAA to ensure flight safety.’