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Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted Flying Over The Carolinas; Pentagon: Second Chinese Spy Balloon Over Latin America; S.C. Police Warn Residents Not To Shoot At Suspected Spy Balloon; Sixth Memphis Police Officer Fired In The Wake Of Nichol's Death & Two First Responders Suspended; FAA Issues Ground Stops And Restricts Airspace On Carolina Coast. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired February 04, 2023 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:04]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: China claims it's a civilian research vessel that blew off course. But the Pentagon is not buying that. Calling the balloon's flight over the U.S. soil, an irresponsible act. CNN has reporters around the world tracking the latest developments on this story. Let's turn first to CNN Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon with the latest. Oren, what's being said?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're waiting for any sort of update on this, and the Pentagon has made clear earlier today, their recommendation or rather earlier this week that their recommendation to President Joe Biden was not to shoot this down, because of partially at least a risk to people and property below. So, this balloon made its way across a good chunk of United States from Montana on Tuesday and Wednesday now to where it is over the heart of the country to where it is now over essentially North Carolina, South Carolina, where it's reaching the coast.

And then open water beyond that where you no longer have the risk to people and property below. And therefore, the question then becomes does the military change its recommendation and recommend to President Joe Biden that if you're going to go ahead and follow the we'll take care of it that it would be the time and the place to shoot this down. It is worth noting that as many people will along the path or looking for the balloon.

I've been watching flight tracking Web sites pretty much all morning such as ADS-B Exchange and Flightradar24. And there we've seen some noteworthy flight activity, not the only military flight activity but some noteworthy activity. A couple of tankers, refueling tankers, right off the coast of Myrtle Beach there essentially fly in a holding pattern. Why is that noteworthy? Because fighters that would be used or could be used to shoot this down might need to refuel as they wait for this balloon to reach that area.

So, that's one thing we'll be keeping an eye on. It is important to note that the Pentagon hasn't confirmed that these flights are related in any way to the balloon, but they are along that trajectory. So, we're going to keep an eye on that, as Fred, we wait to find out exactly what President Joe Biden meant when he said we'll take care of it.

WHITFIELD: Right. Very ominous. Oren Lieberman, thanks so much at the Pentagon, we'll check back with you. CNN is Diane Gallagher is in Charlotte, North Carolina where there were some sightings of that balloon. So, what is the latest there?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Lots of sightings of that balloon over Charlotte, North Carolina in the 10:00 hour this morning. We're still seeing people post those photos of local affiliate here in Charlotte got video of the balloon as it passed over the skies. And you can probably see behind me, it is a very clear day, it has been easy to spot for people, just to the south of us in your county, South Carolina.

The sheriff's office posting a picture of it, essentially telling people, look, we know that it's passing over our area. But what we're seeing a lot of different police departments, sheriff's offices reminding people 60,000 feet up and asking people to please one, not clog up the 911 systems and call 911 to report it. We know it's there. Essentially, please just take a picture of it, post it on your social media. That's all you need to do if you feel the need to do something.

And two, please do not try to take matters into your own hand. There are tongue-in-cheek post about this in Gastonia, Boone, North Carolina, your County, South Carolina, but also telling people please do not shoot at this balloon. Please do not. Your county telling people what goes up will come down including your own bullets. Again, tongue-in-cheek but also reminding people please don't try to take this into your own hands.

All you really need to do is what we're seeing right now. Pictures of this balloon if you feel the need to take pictures of it, post it on your social media, share it with your friends, essentially telling them look, the authorities are doing what they need to do, Fred. We have reached out to the governor of North Carolina, the mayor of Charlotte, and the airport here would have not heard back from them on anything dealing with this suspected surveillance balloon.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, as ominous as it was from the president of the United States. It sounds like he's also saying be patient because in his words, we're going to take care of it. All right. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much.

All right. All the while, China has maintained its innocence even after acknowledging the balloon belongs to them. CNN's Selina Wang is in Beijing. And Selina, what are the Chinese saying right now?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the week that Beijing is trying to lower tensions over the suspected Chinese spy balloon in U.S. airspace. Beijing claims that it's just a weather balloon that's gone off course. The Pentagon doesn't buy that claim. But what is extraordinary here is that the Chinese government expressed regret. This is extremely rare. It's a major shift from Beijing's regular playbook of hitting back and denying. The foreign ministry said "It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability. The airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airstrip into us airspace."

Now decision making at the Chinese government as a black box but this softer response makes it clear that China is trying to deescalate the situation.

[13:05:06]

But the Foreign Ministry did accuse some politicians and the media in the U.S. for hyping up the incident to "attack and smear China." An editorial in Chinese state media also asked why China would be clumsy enough to rush spy balloons into U.S. airspace when it has more advanced reconnaissance satellites. So, we're left with the mystery of why Beijing let this happen if it was deliberate or an accident.

It's embarrassing for Beijing and it derails the meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Beijing had been gearing up for months for. It's not in Chinese leader Xi Jinping's interest for this meeting to be postponed. This was supposed to be a part of China's reopening to the world after ending zero COVID. China wants to improve ties with the U.S., reengage with officials and focus on boosting its damaged economy.

Now there were low expectations for any concrete outcomes from Blinken's trip to China. But the whole point of the trip was to put guardrails on the relationship. This event highlights a mutual distrust between both sides and why some experts say a face-to-face meeting right now is more important than ever. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Selena Wang, thanks so much in Beijing. CNN's Tom Foreman is monitoring this spy's -- the spy balloon's path as well. Tom, so we've now seen this balloon travel from Montana when it was first spotted midweek. Now in North Carolina, tell us more about the potential significance of these locations where there were sightings.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been quite a hole. We believe, based on what analysts for the military think that it took off from China came over the Aleutian chain near Alaska, down through Canada and then dropped in here. And yes, this is where we first became aware of it up here in Montana. Missile sites up in this area that would be important to the United States same over here in the Dakota's, their missile sites there and of course, military bases, and other things along the way that might be of interest that it travels.

Any nuclear plants that might pass near, any other military sites or sensitive sites. So, we have sightings here, then sightings down here, and then down in this way. If you look at this, this basically would track along to what you would see from the jet stream that we carry it down in this direction. The jet stream changes all the time, it can change the direction somewhat. But the models were showing that it would basically probably come out here in the Carolinas. Now, how fast is it traveling? I want to go back to this one because I think it's sort of interesting to think about it. If you take the first sighting up here on Wednesday, if you simply add up the time, at 7:00 tonight, Eastern Time, you'd be at roughly 72 hours of traveling. The jet stream is over 100 miles an hour. So, it's clearly not moving quite that fast. I'd have to do all the math on this. But if you'd start -- started driving here 24 hours a day.

Yes, you can cover a lot of ground here. So, that gives you an idea of how fast this thing might be moving. Let's talk a little bit about where it's moving. The altitude of this is interesting because airplanes would be here at about 30,000 feet, this is up at about 60,000 feet. There are other scientific balloons that NASA might launch that go much higher than this. This is all well, well, well below space.

Space is typically defined as the Karman Line which is about 62 miles up. So much higher than this. This is going to be airplanes here, 5- 1/2 miles. This is around 11 miles up. So -- but this is high enough that the jet stream could truly be moving it along. What do we know about the balloon? I find this really interesting, the more we've been able to look at it. The military is basically saying they believe this structure underneath the balloon here, which we believe includes some kind of solar arrays, things like that.

This structure and let's assume that it goes a similar balance out here where we can't see it is roughly 90 feet long. That's pretty big. We also know that balloons like this, high-altitude lift balloons like this are capable of carrying thousands of pounds. This isn't something that can, you know, like a -- you'd see at the balloon festival where it carries a few people into the air. This can carry a tremendous amount of weight to it.

And they have said they believe it's maneuverable to some degree. Maneuverable? I don't really know what to make of that because again, it's following a line that basically tracks with what would be happening if you look at the jet stream. In any event, I think there's every reason to believe based on the study we've seen so far that it's very rapidly approaching this part where it would go off the edge of the country.

People talked about shooting it down. Remember, over here you can see that's where there's very little population. It's been moving into more populated area, less reason to shoot it down here because of the risk involved. But when you get to this edge out here, if they said right over here on the Outer Banks, they want to try to hit it there. You really have about a 14-mile area before you're getting really close to international waters where it becomes more politically sensitive to take it down.

And believe me, my finger is far too thick here to show 14 miles. It's not really a big gap. Could the military do it? Absolutely.

[13:10:06]

That's a big enough target for them to work with but it will would be precise. You couldn't loiter along at the speed it's moving or it could drift right over it.

WHITFIELD: Right. Incredible accuracy. Also meeting with what you already mentioned, the speed of which this balloon has been drifting or moving, you know, whether that's simply the jet stream or because of that maneuverability. So, it has to be --

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: The jet stream is typically about 110 miles an hour.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

FOREMAN: So, if it's moving -- it's obviously not moving quite that fast, right? But the jet stream --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Pretty good clips from Wednesday to today, though. All those miles --

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: Yes. Exactly. It'll be -- it will be really interesting when this is all done. If the military or the government puts together a really complete map that they're willing to share of exactly where it did go because there were little sort of jogs in the path here and there that seemed either like the wind change direction or something on board. Some kind of tiny thrusters or something were used to steer it or like a sailboat if they have some sort of sales in effect that open to change its direction.

WHITFIELD: Hence that maneuverability. All right. Still so mysterious. But that was a fabulous breakdown. Thank you so much, Tom Foreman.

All right, the Pentagon says there is a second suspected Chinese spy balloon heading across Latin America. CNN's Rafale Romo is following that development for us. So, Rafael, what do we know about this other balloon? Is it, you know, an exactly replica? Are they willing to share that?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: It looks very similar, Fredricka. And we're learning about sightings of this second balloon, what could be a second balloon which looks a lot like the Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the United States and at least two Latin American countries. Columbia media are reporting sightings of a balloon flying at about 70,000 feet over the South American country's airspace. Citing the Colombian military.

We've also seen reports a balloon has been spotted over Costa Rica on Friday. The Pentagon confirmed sightings of a balloon over Latin America and said it was another Chinese surveillance balloon. CNN has obtained the video shot Thursday showing a balloon geo located to San Jose. This is Costa Rica's capital, but we cannot independently have confirmed that it is indeed a Chinese balloon.

We checked, but neither the Colombian government nor Costa Rica have issued any confirmation or official statements so far regarding any sighting. However, the topic as you can imagine, has gone viral on social media in the region. There were a number of sightings of an object from eyewitnesses in Costa Rica and Colombia that at this point, could not be confirmed by CNN as Chinese balloon.

Beyond this second balloon and based on my reporting on the region, Fredricka for many years, I can tell you that China's presence in Latin America is nothing new. Beijing has had it for years very closely relations with authoritarian regimes, like the ones in Venezuela, and Nicaragua. And as you may remember, in 2020, China offered a $1 billion loan to Latin America and the Caribbean for access to its COVID-19 vaccine. Fredricka, get back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rafael Romo. Thanks so much. All right. Still ahead. A brutal arctic blast is making its way across parts of the country right now. More than 15 million North Easterners are facing life-threatening conditions. That is straight ahead.

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[13:17:33]

WHITFIELD: As the Chinese spy balloon floats over the Carolinas, police in one South Carolina County warning residents not to shoot at. What exactly is a spy balloon by the way? Here now is CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is floating there. That's what's the weirdest part about it.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): That tiny white dot in the sky can seem deceptive. This suspected Chinese spy balloon experts say is a vehicle that's more impressive than you might think.

CAITLIN LEE, MITCHELL INSTITUTE FOR AEROSPACE STUDIES: Balloons have a long history of warfare being used for intelligence surveillance reconnaissance. And this is no different.

TODD: U.S. officials say this balloon is the size of three city buses and appears to have solar panels on it as well as surveillance equipment. Analysts say since the balloon likely has no motor, the solar panels would help power the balloon. And.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, FORMER AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: To allow for an operator to steer the balloon because any steering mechanism would require some degree of power as well.

TODD: Experts say these balloons can fly at altitudes of 60,000 feet to 50 miles above the Earth. We asked analysts what kind of surveillance equipment this vehicle might have and the capabilities of that equipment.

LEE: They'll have cameras for imagery of sensitive sites, they can have other sensors that can collect signals intelligence. So, think about eavesdropping on your cell phone. These are -- these balloons have been around for a long time. And we ourselves and United States have used them simply to monitor the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

TODD: But with military satellites having such sophisticated surveillance capability, what would a spy balloon have that a satellite wouldn't?

LEE: One, they fly at lower altitudes and the other big advantage I think they have is the persistence. They can just kind of hang out and loiter oversights. Whereas satellites, of course are in low Earth orbit or rotating around the earth.

TODD: And experts say balloons are much cheaper to deploy than satellites. But the spy balloon as possibly evidenced in this case isn't infallible.

LEE: One of their biggest drawbacks, historically, is that they can just get carried away by the wind. We tried to use them to spy on the Soviet Union during the Cold War. And that was our big problem.

TODD: So, if it's not shut down, how would a balloon like this eventually come down? Would it just be allowed to crash somewhere?

LEIGHTON: If they steer them properly, they can just like you would in a hot air balloon, you know, over Santa Fe, New Mexico. They would bring that down in a very controlled descent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Experts say the spy balloon has a future and possibly an ominous one.

[13:20:02]

They say it could be used as a weapons platform, possibly to attack cities or static formations of troops. As one analyst said, there's no limit to the kind of technology you can stick on the bottom of a balloon.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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WHITFIELD: Dangerous extreme cold has millions of Americans bundling up and hunkering down freezing temperatures not seen in decades. Record low wind chills pummeling the Northeast including minus 108- degree Fahrenheit at the Mount Washington observatory. Weather observer there explained the dangers of extreme cold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCIS TARASIEWICZ, EDUCATION SPECIALIST, MOUNT WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY: Frostbite will set in under a minute in these conditions. Mild frostbite, you may notice of Redding.

[13:25:01] Some sort of like sunburn-like symptoms and then quickly your skin will become waxy. And yes, you may not be able to move your fingers after just a few minutes for these types of conditions. So, quite dangerous up here on the higher summits.

Any exposed skin, even if it's just like a millimeter or so of exposed skin sort of feels like a bee stinging you or maybe like a low-grade sunburn. So, definitely not very pleasant up here this morning. But being up here, this is kind of what we're up here for, you know, these extreme conditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. I've had frostbite before. No fun. Don't want it ever again. So, take all the precautions you can. My next guest in fact knows a thing or two about preparing for double-digit drop-in temperatures. His hit Magnolia Network show Maine Cabin Masters, teaches people how to prepare before the freeze sets in. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we have a lovely skating rink here today at the Y camp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought we had winter beat. But unfortunately, we lost. Snow came in over the weekend. Eight inches to a foot of snow. It was wet. It was heavy. And it's frozen now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. Joining us right now outside making it look like it's no big thing. The host of Maine Cabin Masters right now streaming in Discovery Plus and HBO Max. Here he is live. Chase Morrill. He's in Augusta, Maine where it's only three degrees right now. Chase, you're making it look like, you know, it's just a walk in the park.

CHASE MORRILL, HOST, MAINE CABIN MASTERS: It's not bad as long as the wind isn't blowing.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, if you are in a very cold place right now, if you're in the northeast, if you haven't already taken some precautions, trying to get your home, you know, prepared. What, if anything, can you do right now? What do you recommend?

MORRILL: Oh, the most important thing is to button up, you know, when you're outside button up close, you kind of want to do the same thing with your house. Make sure all your windows are closed tightly, storm windows are down. If you have any drafts coming under the doors, towel rolled up in front of the doorways always a good thing. Close your curtains and just trying to conserve as much heat as you can.

WHITFIELD: OK. What about the other stuff like -- I mean, because everybody's always very concerned about their pipes freezing, you know, and the dripping of the wall -- water might be one, you know, potential, I guess, remedy or protection to put in place. But are there other things that people can be doing because that's one of the biggest problems when it comes down to just freezing temperatures. Pipes bursting.

MORRILL: Yes. I mean, definitely the biggest issue with subzero temperatures is your pipes freezing. And so, you want to make sure that your heating systems functioning properly, there's no snow banks or anything blocking any vent pipes to the exterior. And same thing on the inside, if you've got ductwork or vents, you want to make sure they're exposed, and anything to help make sure the airflow, you know, it flows freely throughout the house.

WHITFIELD: And the flip side to that is we're also seeing that there are a lot of power outages, you know, in parts of the country that are being impacted. How to folks stay warm wherever they are?

MORRILL: Yes. I mean, luckily, up here, we've got lots of warming centers, you know, in different communities. So, if you do -- if you are without power or heat, there's places for you to warm up. But, you know, again, make sure your fuel tanks are full, you've got plenty of wood on hand ready to go. And just, you know, keep the fire going. You want to make sure that like you said a small trickle in your faucets will kind of help the water flow through the pipes.

WALLACE: Oh no.

MORRILL: (INAUDIBLE) not to use an open flame. Try and be as safe as possible.

WHITFIELD: OK. We're talking about freeze and sometimes our shot freezes too. But we can at least still hear you even though, you know, some of the images might be a little frozen. That's kind of funny, isn't it? So, I wonder --

(CROSSTALK)

MORRILL: (INAUDIBLE) my computer.

WHITFIELD: It's too cold for everything. So -- I mean, you have a great sense of humor about it all.

MORRILL: It really is.

WHITFIELD: I mean, you revel in this. In fact, it's really, you know, largely what your show in Maine Cabin Masters is all about. And it seems like you're also trying to convey to people that you know, you have to go ahead and brace -- to embrace extreme weather, extreme conditions. So, what's your, you know, what's your advice to folks who, you know, just see it as a real obstacle but instead you're saying it's a real opportunity?

MORRILL: Yes. For sure. I mean, you know, probably not the best time of year to be painting exterior, but there's plenty of projects you can tackle on your house again. Sealing up any graphs, weatherization -- here to failure, your energy bill is just going to help in the long term but as long as you're bundled up and ready to go, you know it's good weather to have some fun and funny snow to play in. WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Oh, you got me motivated now. It's kind of happy that I'm here in this app and didn't have to worry about it. But now I feel like I'm missing out, Chase. Chase Morrill, thank you so much.

MORRILL: Not much.

WHITFIELD: OK. Not that far, huh? OK. Well, as long as we are, you know, ready and prepared and that's what you are helping to convey. Thank you so much, Chase Morrill. Appreciate it.

[13:30:07]

Don't forget, everybody, you can catch Chase and his partner, Ryan Eldridge, on their show "Maine Cabin Masters" on the Magnolia Network every Monday at 9:00, 8:00 Central.

You can also binge your favorite seasons of the show on Discovery Plus and HBO Max.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, another Memphis, Tennessee, police officer has been fired following the violent arrest and death of Tyre Nichols.

Memphis police say former officer, Preston Hemphill, has been terminated for violating multiple department policies for his actions during the arrest.

Two first responders have also had their licenses suspended. The Medical Services Division said Robert Long and Jamichael Sandridge waited 19 minutes to provide even basic aid to Nichols.

[13:35:04]

CNN's Nadia Romero is joining us now.

So, Nadia, the mayor of Memphis has now announced the police department will undergo an independent review. What more can you say about that?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was big for Tyre Nichols' family and their attorney, Ben Crump. They have been asking for an independent investigation.

A lot of times police departments will do internal investigations and sometimes find out, you know, we didn't do anything wrong. That has a lot of people saying, why are you allowed to investigate yourself?

In this case, the mayor is welcoming the federal government to come in and really look at this police department. There have been calls to look at their training.

What was their training? Was there a lack of training? What's the culture within the police department in some of these special units like the SCORPION Unit that these five original officers were a part of, and just the department as a whole?

This is welcome news to local activists and to the family.

Let's dive into what's happened recently. We have now another police officer who has been fired. It's because of departmental policy violations. Those are the allegations.

There's Officer Hemphill and there's a long list -- take a look -- a list of alleged violations, personal conduct, truthfulness, compliance.

He was the first officer to really interact with Tyre Nichols, pull him over, take him out of the car, attempt to tase him. He was heard on that body camera saying, "I hope they stomp him."

This officer has faced a lot of scrutiny but was not part of the original five who were fired. Now fired, now facing this.

But we are looking at departmental violations, not criminal charges.

His lawyer saying that, "While we disagree with Preston Hemphill's termination from the Memphis Police Department, Mr. Hemphill will continue to cooperate with all investigating agencies into the death of Tyre Nichols."

Again, stressing these are not criminal charges.

Who are facing criminal charges, have already been indicted? Five other Memphis police officers are facing criminal charges. We're looking at a murder charge, an assault charge and a long list of charges facing these five officers.

A total of seven officers have been fired and have these allegations against them. There's another person on paid administrative leave.

If you look at the fire department, those EMTs, two of them have been fired and their licenses have been suspended. So they're not allowed to use that license that they studied for, took a class for, and gives them a ticket for their career.

That's been suspended as this investigation continues.

All of this coming from the family really who started this, family and local activists pushing for answers, pushing for the release of that awful video we watched.

Listen to Tyre Nichols' grandmother. Her message to the officers and those involved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNNIE LARAY HONEYCUTT, GRANDMOTHER OF TYRE NICHOLS: My baby was a skateboarder. He had the best mother and stepfather in the world. Why would you want to do that to him? (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: Six officers fired. We just add the additional officer today. But you saw the pain in his grandmother when she was speaking there.

This investigation continues from many different levels, county, local and now federal.

WHITFIELD: Nadia Romero, thank you so much for bringing that.

We have new information just in now. This is pertaining to that Chinese spy balloon that continues to coast over American air space. There's an FAA ground stop now at three airports in the Carolinas. They issued a restricted air space for, quote, "national defense air space."

With me, Pentagon correspondent, Oren Liebermann.

Oren, tell us more about what this means.

LIEBERMANN: Let's talk about what the FAA has done and then we'll talk about the significance of that in the broader picture.

The FAA has issued a ground stop at three airports right along the Carolinas, North and South Carolina, at Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston, in support of a Department of Defense national security effort. That is going on now. Flights there paused at the moment.

In addition, there is a TFR, Temporary Flight Restriction, right off the coast of the Carolinas covering quite an area. This was issued a short time ago. It runs from 12:45 p.m. local to 2:45 p.m. local.

According to the FAA, it is for the use of national defense air space. Any aircraft in that area are told to leave in as expeditious a manner as possible for the duration of this Temporary Flight Restriction, which runs until 2:45 p.m. local.

[13:39:55]

Why is this significant? It is right along the trajectory of the balloon, from the sightings in western North Carolina, central around Ashville and Charlotte, and now towards the coast where it's headed towards around that border between North and South Carolina.

Significant because the Pentagon, until now, has recommended not shooting this down because of the risk to people and property below. That risk largely vanishes once this is out over the water. That's where this Temporary Flight Restriction is.

As people have been looking for this balloon, we've been tracking flight-traffic Web sites that show military aircraft activity in the area. That, too, a potential piece of this puzzle.

A couple refueling tankers right there, which is what fighter jets, if they came to shoot down this balloon, would need to use as they waited for this balloon to arrive. So all of this converging. The FAA now putting out this Temporary

Flight Restriction for a national defense effort or national defense air space, as we wait to find out what's happening here.

President Joe Biden said just a short time ago, "We'll take care of it," when asked about this balloon, hinting perhaps strongly that the intent now to shoot this down as it gets over air space.

We're waiting to see how all of this comes together -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK, Oren, thank you so much for that.

We're also joined by CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton.

Cedric, just help break down what it means. Oren broke it down for us.

When you hear national defense air space, temporarily restricting air space to any commercial private aircraft, the first thing anyone would think about is there is going to be some forceful takedown of this balloon.

Is that what it means? Are there other options that would take place?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Fredricka, that is the most logical explanation. We're seeing a standard procedure that the FAA uses in conjunction with the us Air Force when something like this happens.

Think about some of the things that happened on 9/11 over 20 years ago, when you had various parts of our air space shut down as part of this national emergency.

In this particular case, what you're looking at is creating an air space where the Air Force can potentially shoot down this balloon, probably over water just off the coastline of the Carolinas, as Oren mentioned.

What they would do is they've got a lot of Air Force assets that could come from about three different bases to help with this.

You already mentioned the tanker traffic that is orbiting off the coast of Myrtle Beach there.

And you also have the fighter aircraft that could come from various places, including Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, bases in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Those are all potential places where fighters could be scrambles from to go after this balloon and take it down.

WHITFIELD: Would there be a use of more than one aircraft at a time?

LEIGHTON: Potentially, yes. Usually, they will fly in a four-ship formation, sometimes just in pairs.

What they'll do is they'll go after a particular target. You want to have somebody there for safety reasons as a wing man to take a shot if the first shot fails. There are several fail-safe measures that they have.

This is a pretty extensive operation that it appears that they're mounting right now in order to take this balloon out of the sky at this point in time.

WHITFIELD: What is the goal here? Is it destruction or take down with preservation?

LEIGHTON: Well, if I had my druthers, I would opt for takedown with preservation. It sounds like what will happen is take down with destruction.

Again, it depends on a variety of different factors. They may have some options where they can perhaps preserve a large portion of the balloon so they can do a forensic analysis of it when it does reach the ground.

The basic idea, Fredricka, is that they're going to take this balloon and eliminate it as a surveillance system, if that is, indeed, what it is, as we think it is. That's something that we're looking at right now.

And I'm sure as the Air Force is planning to do this. They are exercising all possible options and looking at everything from wind speed to flight positions, altitude.

All of those things coming into play as they're doing their planning and the execution then of the mission that it appears that they're taking care of at the moment.

[13:45:01]

WHITFIELD: And so while you have Temporary Flight Restrictions -- of course, we're talking about over water -- you're also concerned about boats, cargo ships.

What's the technique in clearing all vessels from the waters? You can't necessarily always anticipate what kind of debris field there would be, how big the debris field would be over the water, correct?

LEIGHTON: That is correct. That's actually a bit of a difficult exercise.

Especially in a situation like this where you're talking about a tourist area that is frequented by boaters, especially leisure craft and folks going out to have a good time, maybe not exactly in this kind of cold weather, but still there are some risks to it.

Normally, the Coast Guard and local authorities, Marine patrols, such as those from North Carolina and South Carolina, would be involved in providing some notice to mariners.

They would also get on the radio and warn all boaters that this area is now restricted. I don't know exactly if they've got a specific exclusion zone at the

moment, but it would be wise for boaters in that area to pay very close attention to what's going on because it could absolutely impact their operations.

WHITFIELD: Cedric, who would ultimately be responsible for retrieving debris? Coast Guard, Navy?

LEIGHTON: Both, in many cases. They would definitely work -- the Navy has ships that can salvage material like this. They would try to get them in position, probably come out of the Virginia area, and they would be used to retrieve any kind of wreckage they would find.

This is the same kind of operation that would occur in the event of a plane or helicopter crash at sea. You know, sometimes that's done by the Coast Guard, sometimes by the Navy.

Those are the kinds of things that they work out when it comes to operations like this.

This is definitely a choreographed operation, or at least they're attempting to choreograph this operation to do it as safely as possible with a minimal amount of life lost or, hopefully, no life lost in this case and as safely as possible for everyone concerned.

WHITFIELD: Again, if you're just now joining us, earlier today, citizens from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Asheville, North Carolina, spotted this Chinese spy balloon.

They saw it at daybreak. People took pictures of it. You're looking at some of the images captured earlier.

Now, we understand -- this is three days or four days after this Chinese balloon was spotted in Montana.

It has made its way, some believe by way of the jet stream, others have said it is maneuverable and perhaps it was manipulated as it has traversed the country.

Now we are understanding from our Pentagon sources that they have temporarily closed the air space along the Carolinas. Three airports have a ground stop.

We're talking to Cedric Leighton now about all of the options about how this seems to be precipitating what will be an intentional takedown possibly of this balloon.

Also with us is our CNN aviation expert, Pete Muntean.

Pete, talk to us about this temporary ground stop, the level of cooperation that is now under way between the FAA, you know, commercial, private aircrafts and, of course, the U.S. military.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: How all of this might have been coordinated. PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): There are

two things happening here. Not only is there a ground stop in Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, meaning all planes down at those airports, cannot take off.

Now we're learning there is a Temporary Flight Restriction off the coast of the Carolinas, about 20,000 square miles in area. We're talking about 140 miles by 140 miles.

It goes all the way up to 60,000 feet. That's pretty telling. Because the Pentagon was telling us yesterday this unmanned Chinese spy balloon was up at that altitude at 60,000 feet.

We know the coastline is a safe place to shoot it down because it's far away from populated areas.

We also know this balloon has been headed from the northwest to the southeast. We know, on Wednesday, it was over Billings, Montana. Then it made its way to the St. Louis area and was spotted over the Carolinas earlier today.

[13:50:07]

The FAA tells us something very telling here. That this restriction and ground stop that has been put in place is not only affecting commercial flights but all flights.

And the FAA says in a statement this is specifically to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort.

The FAA not outright saying this is because of the Chinese spy balloon, although all of the arrows are blinking in orange pointing toward the fact that this would be possibly because of the Chinese spy balloon because we know it's been in the area throughout the day.

So we know there's been a lot of coordination taking place here. And there is a bit of a precedent. The FAA did put into place a ground stop when this balloon was over Montana on Wednesday. And that was at the request of the Department of Defense.

Now it seems it's doing this again. And they're saying this is specifically because of a national security effort.

So we will see if this is the red herring, if this is the tell-tale of a shoot-down effort by the military to try to take down this Chinese supply balloon and potentially recover it. That would be really key here.

They need to get airplanes away from this if they're going to effort some sort of interception by high-speed aircraft, like fighters, the F-22, and maybe the Navy in Norfolk.

You would need to have every possible airplane away from that. You don't want to risk airplanes below it because airliners and any other airplane -- airliners are 30,000 people, other airplanes typically below that. It would pose a risk to them.

So we're seeing the purposeful clearing out of airspace and the coordination of government agencies to try to make this happen.

WHITFIELD: All right, everybody stand by. We're going to take a short break.

And we'll continue this conversation as we continue to watch and listen in on all the details with this Temporary Flight Restriction in place, all what we believe to be under the auspices of possibly taking down that mysterious Chinese spy balloon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:46]

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We have breaking news. Right now, the FAA issuing ground stops and restricting airspace at three airports in North and South Carolina. The move comes after a Chinese spy balloon was seen floating over the two states this morning.

With me right now on the phone is CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean.

So, Pete, explain to us the coordination that would have to take place to engage a cooperation between the military and civilian and commercial aircraft.

MUNTEAN (via telephone): A lot of coordination, Fredricka. We've seen this happen before. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, the FAA implemented a ground stop in Billings, Montana, when this Chinese spy balloon was spotted there.

Now we are seeing the, in essence, closure of three commercial airports, Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A ground stop preventing all flights going into there.

And a huge new Temporary Flight Restriction. Restricted air space prevents any airplane from flying through. It's about 140 miles by 140 miles, about 20,000 square miles. It goes from the surface all the way to 60,000 feet.

That's really telling here, because we know from the Pentagon that this balloon was up at 60,000 feet earlier this week. That's a very high altitude it's been cruising at with the winds.

This is really critical because the FAA is telling us that this is at the request of the Department of Defense to assist in the national security effort, the FAA tells me.

So they are in essence clearing out the airspace, trying to make it so that no possible airplane or helicopter could be in this huge box of airspace along the Carolina coast.

It's a large area. It goes all the way from Wilmington, North Carolina, at the top, to Charleston, at the top, South Carolina, at the south part. It encompasses the coastline and the Atlantic Ocean, out to the south and east.

So all of the arrows here are pointing to what will likely be a coordinated shoot-down of this balloon by the military.

The FAA typically will try and just take this request from the military, the Department of Defense, and clear out the airspace so there's no risk to life or limb below and there's no risk to any airplanes below.

Remember, this balloon is so high that most commercial airliners, private jets, what have you, are well below it. They typically fly between 30,000 and 40,000 feet. This balloon is at 60,000 feet.

So if there was some sort of effort to take this balloon down, that would pose a risk to these airplanes down below.

So we're seeing this sort of take place to make it so that the area below is clear and safe for this to possibly happen. We will see exactly when that takes place.

We know from the ground stop that was published by the FAA, that is in place until 2:45 Eastern Standard Time, so another 45 minutes from now.

[13:59:59]

And this is also impacting, you know, flights that are going into other places. So this might mean that commercial flights on the ground are being told to stay on the ground.