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Federal Aviation Administration Orders Ground Stop For North Carolina And South Carolina Airports As Authorities Continue To Monitor Chinese Spy Balloon Floating Across Continental United States; Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Delays Diplomatic Trip To China After Discovery Of Chinese Spy Balloon; Parts Of Northeastern U.S. Suffering Under Severe Cold Weather; Homeless Service Attempt To Provide Warmth And Shelter During Cold Weather In New England; Another Chinese Spy Balloon Discovered Over Latin America; Pentagon Confirms U.S. Military Shot Down Chinese Spy Balloon; Reports Confirms President Biden Ordered Shooting Down Of Chinese Spy Balloon; Reports Indicate U.S. Navy And Coast Guard Will Coordinate Efforts To Recover Shot Down Chinese Spy Balloon. Aired 2-3p ET.
Aired February 04, 2023 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So this might mean that commercial flights on the ground are being told to stay on the ground. So the trickle effect here, the trickle-down effect here just goes beyond this area. It's a huge area, but it goes well beyond that, and it's including places that have commercial planes flying into the three airports that are impacted by this.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In fact, Pete, let's zero in on that. A huge area, 20,000 square miles, and that includes the coastline, and of course, what, generally about 14 miles of waterways along the coastline, which is U.S. territory before hitting international waters. And a lot of the airplane activity is flying along the coast, it's not just an issue of flying in and out of an airport, but it's using that space to navigate.
MUNTEAN: This is a really critical spot for the national airspace system, because as flights traverse north and south along the coast from Florida up to large metro areas in the northeast, this is an area that's really critical for them.
This is where a lot of those routes go through north and south that will be highly utilized. Florida is a big destination for any airline, especially in the middle of the wintertime. So this is going to have an impact beyond just these three airports. This will impact flights going up and down the coast.
But this looks to me, and I'm just looking at the depiction now, that this goes well beyond the borders of international airspace. This starts to actually go into -- from U.S. airspace into international airspace.
So the FAA is just trying to make sure that nothing going north and south or under this big box of airspace, including the coastline, could possibly be impacted by a possible targeted shoot-down of this balloon, if that's indeed what we're going to see take place here.
WHITFIELD: Right. OK, Pete, let's also be joined now by CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo. And Mary, the Charleston Airport, the Charleston area is usually your backyard when we come to you.
MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: My home.
WHITFIELD: Right. So I'm wondering now when Pete is underscoring that even from that graphic that shows that 20,000 square miles, a lot of that is encompassed by U.S. waters along the coastline, but it's his belief that some of that may borrow some space into international waters.
What's the coordination for that to happen? Because now we're talking about, obviously, domestic airways, but even beyond that, international aircraft that are now all impacted by what is to come. And we still are not clear what's to come. We know at the center, though, is that spy balloon, the Chinese spy balloon.
SCHIAVO: And one more overlay on top of that all, and being from Charleston, South Carolina, working in Anchorage today, is the military aspect. In South Carolina, we have a lot of military bases, we have F-15s stationed there. They commonly operate up and down the Carolina coast and do training missions, just had a big one.
But they're going to be operating up to a ceiling of 65,000 feet. Remember this balloon is at 60,000 feet. And presumably they'll be shooting it down, and they can't use a missile on it because it will destroy it. I would hope that our government is going to collect this to see what data they were collecting.
So these fighter jets will be using literally live ammunition. And everyone will remember when TWA went down off the coast of New York, there were military operations nearby. That plane was not shot down. It was a fuel tank explosion, but there was a lot of discussion about should we be having military operations near civilian aircraft.
So they have to put a full ground stop, because presumably the military is going to try to shoot this down without destroying it. There's going to be military operations, planes going, live ordnance. And then they have to collect it.
So it would pose a danger to any civilian aviation, even though as Pete said, he's absolutely right, it's below 40,000 feet. And most aircraft, civilian aircraft, the ceiling of operation, meaning you can't fly about that, is about 40,000 feet, 43,000, probably 50,000 for private jets. So that's what's going to be going on and that's why it's imperative to clear the civilian airspace, because we will have a lot of fighter jets and live ordnance going off to try to stop this.
And I have to mention one thing. They kept saying they didn't want to bring it down because they were concerned about what might happen on the ground. But people might remember the Payne Stewart plane, and the FAA and the United States and fighter jets, et cetera, watched that cross almost the entire United States, and they were going to let that come down in South Dakota, Montana, et cetera. So I suppose one of the questions the American public will ask is why did it have to traverse the U.S.?
[14:05:04]
WHITFIELD: Right. And in that case, the Payne Stewart, I'm vaguely remembering the details of that in that they weren't really sure why it just kept going higher and higher and higher before it was clear that everyone onboard was immobilized.
So back to this, though, when we talk about, and we heard our Oren Liebermann talk about the window here between 12:45 and 2:00 p.m. local time, we're just after 2:00 right now. And when I envision all that you just described about the possibilities, it sure seems like the window would have to be much bigger than that. So do you see potentially that this window will be expanded? Because that's a lot of activity that would have to transpire within the next 55 minutes.
SCHIAVO: That's right, because what goes up must come down, and presumably they're trying to bring it down without total destruction of the object, which means they're going to have to calculate how long it's going to take to come back to the earth and where it's going to come down.
And there will be -- presumably, I'm sure they're already in place, the Marine coordination, but the aircraft are going to have to keep their eyes on it and keep it in their sights. So there will be a lot of military aviation back and forth. And the military and civilian aviation, when they're on a mission, don't mix too well.
So I would assume that until it is safely down, out of the sky and just simply coming down from 60,000 feet, it takes several minutes. So then they're going to have to collect it. So I would imagine it's possible that the stop might be expanded.
WHITFIELD: Mary, stand by.
I also want to bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand because earlier we heard kind of a little sign-posting from the president, right, when he was spontaneously asked -- these are live pictures right now. He's been in Syracuse, New York, and now he is momentarily going to be departing.
But it wasn't that long ago when the press pool, White House press pool asked him, what are you going to do about this balloon? And he says, we'll take care of it, if I'm quoting there properly. And now, not long after that, we're hearing about this temporary flight restriction in place, 20,000 square miles impacted.
What can you tell us about the information, the tidbit of information that the president was allowed to get out when asked that question, and even still we're waiting for details about what is going to happen?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Fred. So the president has been weighing, along with his military advisers, for the last couple of days, of course, since they found out about this balloon, what to do about it. Do you just let it float away? Do you actively shoot it down? Do you try to take it down through some other mechanism and then take it apart and see what kind of equipment it has inside of it?
This has been the context and the subject of all of the calls and meetings that he's been having over the last several days with his national security team. And we were told yesterday is that even though he was originally advised against shooting down the balloon because of the risk that it potentially posed to civilians on the ground, that option was actually never taken off the table. But the issue, of course, as has been mentioned, was taking it down over land where it could potentially hit a building or civilians.
So now that it seems that it is going over water the president probably felt more confident saying that he was going to take care of it. Now, remember that he has been under intense pressure by Republicans on the Hill to do something about this balloon. They have been calling on him to shoot it down.
They have been saying that his administration is weak on China, that this is a violation of American airspace and that it cannot be just kind of swept under the rug and let the balloon just fly away.
And so he has been under intense pressure to do something, not only because of the partisan pressure that he's getting from there, but also because of the very rocky relationship that the U.S. currently has, of course, with the Chinese government. The secretary of state was scheduled to visit Beijing and to meet with potentially Xi Jinping there, the Chinese leader.
But now we know that they want to do something that is going to send a message to the Chinese that this is not acceptable. So canceling the trip, shooting down this balloon, those are two major ways that the administration can signal to the Chinese, look, we are not happy about this. We know it's happened before, but this time this balloon has been over our territory for way too long, and we're going to do something about it, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And I wonder if the translation of that message that the White House, the U.S. is trying to send by, a, first saying Antony Blinken postponing the trip, and then now another message is being sent, right, about how, the method in which this balloon might be taken down, the precautions that are now being put into place for that to potentially happen.
BERTRAND: Yes, Fred, and to be clear, the Chinese are not happy about this. They have come out and said, we didn't mean to do this, this was an accident. We don't have a lot of control over this. This is simply a weather balloon.
[14:10:01]
The U.S. is not buying that, and they believe the best way to send this message diplomatically and otherwise, kinetically, is by taking this balloon down.
Now, obviously it is not clear what it actually has inside of it. We have been told by officials that the intelligence gear inside of it and the surveillance equipment is not necessarily all that sensitive.
It is not something that perhaps is going to be a boon to the United States, for example, in terms of learning what the Chinese have. They have much more sophisticated equipment, including satellites, that are constantly surveilling us every 90 minutes, rotating the earth and watching what we're doing.
So this is not necessarily a counterintelligence move by the U.S. in that sense, but they do, of course, want to minimize the amount of intelligence that they can collect by having a balloon at a much lower level with, arguably, better visibility into some of our missile silos and other sensitive areas of the United States.
So this is a message that they're sending to the Chinese, look, we know that this is not out of the ordinary for what you guys are doing, but it's so obvious and it's so clear to the American public, who can also just see it with the naked eye, that there's really nothing else we can do here.
WHITFIELD: Natasha Bertrand, hold tight. Thank you so much.
I want to bring in CNN's Dianne Gallagher who is in Charlotte, North Carolina. And Dianne, while you're a couple hundred miles away from the coastal airport of Wilmington, North Carolina, that is among the three airports that are now experiencing a ground stop, what are you learning from your vantage point? Because this is one of the cities where you are now where people spotted that balloon some 60,000 feet above.
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. And look, geographically, especially by driving distance, we're closing to Myrtle Beach and to Charleston, to other airports that have the ground stop right now along the Carolina coastline.
Here in Charlotte late this morning is when people started to spot the balloon in the sky. Earlier in the morning, around in the 8:00 a.m. hour, we started seeing people tracking it as it came into the airspace here in North Carolina in Asheville, and we sort of watched it as it has gone toward the east here, down into the South Carolina area.
Look, we've seen a lot of people posting it online. It's a very clear day here so they've been able to get very good pictures, some bad little iPhone pictures, but also some very clear pictures of the balloon, of any sort of planes that people have spotted around it as well. We've actually had people who have now been sending me photos from South Carolina near the coastline there, in Conway, South Carolina, saying they're starting to see it in their sky there as well.
We've also had law enforcement, of course, some of these are tongue- in-cheek posts, but also asking people, look, we know there's a lot of attention, people are a little surprised when they've seen in. Please don't call 911 and clog up emergency services. They know it. They can look up in the sky, too, and see it. No need to alert authorities locally. And also, again, tongue-in-cheek, but it's real, please do not try and
take matters into your own hand. Several different sheriff's departments and police departments, Gastonia in North Carolina, York County, South Carolina, Boone, North Carolina, asking people not to take matters into their own hands.
Please do not shoot at the balloon. It is far too high in the sky for you to reach it, and it could become dangerous for anybody on the ground, because what goes up, in the words of York County Sheriff's Office, must come down, including your bullets.
So that's essentially what they're doing here, telling people, look, if you see it and you feel the need, post your own pictures, take pictures of it. But there's nothing for people on the ground to do except for essentially look up in the sky and see it pass. We're seeing a lot of interest, though, a lot of posts on social media.
We're here in Charlotte, and there are people walking by just a little bit ago talking about how they saw it earlier this morning and wondering what the United States is going to do as it gets closer to the coastline here in the Carolinas, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much, there, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I want to bring in now General Wesley Clark, a CNN military analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander. General, good to see you. so obviously, this has been very important and very serious from the very start, from the first spotting of this mysterious spy balloon in Montana.
But now that it is possibly encroaching on space over water, talk to us about the seriousness in which the U.S. military, intelligence, all parties have been taking this to now make the decision that it's important to have this temporary flight restriction in place, ground stoppage at three coastal airports, and to also declare this a national defense air space.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: First of all, everybody has agreed that this is not a weather balloon, it's a surveillance balloon. And the payload package is the size of three school buses.
[14:15:00]
So this is a substantial payload. There's no telling what's in there. This is much bigger than what you would have on a normal spy satellite, the kind that we use. This is just massive stuff. So, yes, there was some concern about to bring it down. But I think, also, we want to make sure when we bring it down, we bring it down the right way, and we've got the chance to exploit what's there.
So we don't want to just smash everything and have pieces of chips and transistors there. What we want is to take it down in such a way we can go out and grab it, look at what's in there. Maybe there's something to learn from it. Some people say the Chinese optics aren't as good as our optics, and
maybe they needed a real close-up look of some of our missile silos. Some people are suggesting other things might be in there. So it's important to take this down for military reasons. It's also very important for diplomatic reasons. And obviously the president wants to show he can protect American airspace and do it the right way.
So it makes a lot of sense to me that it's going to be taken down over the coastline somewhere where it likely crashes right offshore. Probably there's a joint task force stood up, so there's people communicating, the aircraft, there are probably a couple of ships offshore ready to go out there and grab it with helicopters or whatever when it hits the water. That would be my expectation.
WHITFIELD: I wonder, as we wait to see what happens, how it might be taken down, I wonder if you feel like, was China's intention -- or was it their goal to think that this balloon would be that elusive? I mean, 60,000 feet, it's going through all kinds of different weather patterns, a lot of clear skies, enough for people to see it.
Was it that the Chinese thought it would be that elusive, or were they hopeful that people would see it and it would simply stir things up? What do you believe the goal here has been?
CLARK: Well, it's speculation to see what the goal is, but it seems pretty clear to us that this is a message to the United States, to the American leadership, and to the American people that we may be protected by oceans on both sides, but the United States is vulnerable. People are watching. It's not a smart move for China if you want to restore more tranquil relations with the United States. It's a provocative move, and it's irresponsible, as Secretary Blinken said. But there it is.
And so the fact that the foreign ministry apologized for it yesterday and called it a weather balloon, that's sort of typical miscommunication given by governments when something is done as a secret project and the foreign ministry is not engaged in it. So we've seen this happen before. We have to believe that this is an intentional provocation and a warning. And so we want to take it down.
WHITFIELD: While this is declared national defense airspace now, do you see that it will be F-22s that are involved here? What kind of aircraft do you see, military aircraft do you see will potentially be involved here? And what are the risks involved, not just for people on the ground, along the coastline, but risks involving the military or any kind of vessels anywhere in the water? Because we don't know what the debris field, if there's going to be a debris field, how big it might be.
CLARK: Right. Well, I think that you'll see a couple pair of aircraft up there. It could be F-15 Charlies, could be F-22s. They'll use air- to-air missile on it, they could. They probably won't close enough to use a gun on it. You could back that up with Naval vessels offshore using one of their surface-to-air missiles.
But I think in terms of keeping an eye on things and having a good grip on the circumstances, it's probably wiser to use aircraft. Probably have a couple that come in relatively close, five, 10 miles. Probably have another pair standing off further.
This is a big balloon, and normally balloons like this are not as easy to bring down as you think. It's not like a circus balloon where you stick a pin in it and it pops and it's over. This balloon could be self-sealing. It could have extra gas and cylinders in it. It's a big thing. And so we want to make sure we can get it down. This is not necessarily going to be just one missile and, pop, and it collapses and falls into the ocean. We just don't know.
WHITFIELD: So underscore that point then, because of the unknown, of the payload, of how it is being fueled, what kind of assessments might have already taken place, or what assessments might be absent because people don't really know what's in it, or do you believe intelligence, to some degree, does know what they're dealing with?
[14:20:00]
CLARK: I don't think we know for sure what's in that payload. And it's a big payload. Look at the scale of the balloon, this is a payload that is several tons. It's big. And we don't know what's there, but it's hard to imagine that the -- I hear these conspiracy theories of bioweapons and electromagnetic pulse and so forth. I think that's highly unlikely. But I think it is likely it's loaded with cameras and electronic listening gear, and its transmitting continuously back to China, and the Chinese have real time control over it by a satellite.
All of that technology we're watching, I'm sure, through NSA and our other technical means. But we still need to get it down and see what's there on the inside.
WHITFIELD: OK, and General Wesley Clark, we now have just learned that -- remember, I mentioned the temporary flight restriction, the window was from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. local time. Now we understand it's being extended, the ground stop involving those three airports, until 3:30 p.m. We're talking about Wilmington, North Carolina airport, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston, South Carolina. Thank you so much, General, for your perspective.
We're going to take a short break for now and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:25:23]
WHITFIELD: We'll get back to the Chinese spy balloon and its possible takedown in a moment.
But first, the northeast is dealing with life-threatening cold today. Roughly 1 million people in the region remain in the grips of wind chill warnings, and most of those alerts are expected to end later tonight as temperatures finally start to stabilize. The highs should rebound to about five to 10 degrees above normal by Sunday. Not the case last night when Mount Washington in New Hampshire
recorded a wind chill of minus 108 degrees, likely setting a new national record. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is braving the cold in New York with a whole lot of friends out there on the streets and on the sidewalks. Gloria, is it starting to feel any warmer?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, I can't tell if it's getting slightly warmer or if I've just become numb and I'm no longer able to feel the temperature. Things are getting slightly, slightly better, but the sun is starting to come down and I do expect for those temperatures to continue to drop. That wind chill is affecting fewer people across the country right now, but it's definitely still very cold out here.
I want to walk over to my friend Gamal (ph) who has been manning the hot dog cart all day. I've been watching him work. And earlier when I talked to you today, I wanted to show you that the water bottle was frozen solid. It still is, rock hard, it has not thawed out at all. How is business, so-so? No good today. It's very cold out here.
So Central Park is usually packed with tourists and New Yorkers is a little bit quieter than usual. But, still, people are out here, if I could even say enjoying the temperature. We've seen a lot of people out on their jog, walking their dogs, and even people who are on the bike tours, the ones that ride you around the city. I just talked to a guy who got off of a tour. He said his fingers felt like they were about to fall off, but he enjoyed every minute.
So as usual, New Yorkers and everyone here taking it in stride. But on a more serious note, Fred, it is definitely just dangerous conditions. Be careful when you are out here. You need to be wearing your layers, your gloves, your hat. You want to minimize the amount of time that you are outdoors. It is very cold. And frostbite and all these other bad things that happen during these cold temperatures are a possibility. So if you can manage it, stay indoors, stay warm while we get through this arctic chill.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. It is potentially dangerous, indeed. Gloria Pazmino, try and duck into some warm place, at least until your next live shot. Thank you so much.
So with temperatures plummeting, Boston's mayor declaring a cold emergency. The city opening warming centers for those without a home to stay. But Boston's homeless services are also stepping up to give a place to stay that's safe indoors against and away from the dangerous cold.
Joining us right now is Lyndia Downie. She is the president and executive director of Pine Street Inn, the largest homeless services provider in New England. Lyndia, so good to see you. Thanks so much for taking the time. So talk to me about the lengths in which you all are going to make sure that everyone can be indoors.
LYNDIA DOWNIE, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PINE STREET INN: Well, it's been a tough night. It's been a long couple of days. We have added extra capacity, both of our outreach vans. We've added two additional vans, so we have more transportation if people want to come in to shelter.
We have opened a warming center, along with the city, so that if people just want to come in, even if they don't want to take a bed, just come in and get warm for the night. And we've added extra street capacity even during the day to try and convince people to come in.
WHITFIELD: So how successful has that effort been?
DOWNIE: Well, we saw 83 people last night through both of our vans, and I think about 52 of those folks went into South Station, which is our main train station in Boston that the governor kept open during this really cold, cold spell. So quite a few people used the station, which we're grateful for. We had another 17 people either come into shelter, come into the warming center.
[14:32:03]
One or two people ended up that we took them to the emergency room because we were concerned, which left us with a handful of people on the street, some of whom, believe it or not, did not come in. Asked for extra blankets, more soup, and we went by three or four times later in the evening to check on people and make sure they were still OK.
WHITFIELD: So talk to me more about those challenges. You're trying to convince everyone that you come into contact with to find a warm place, you have a warm center to offer them, but then there still is a lot of reluctance sometimes from the people that you meet. So what do you do? At what point do you continue to try to convince, or do you just abandon the efforts?
DOWNIE: Well, I wouldn't say we ever abandon the effort, frankly, and in some ways having South Station open meant that we knew a number of people we were concerned about were warm, right, so that we can spend more time with the people we were concerned about that did not come in.
And the people typically that don't come in, they're struggling with substance use disorder, they have a major mental illness they are struggling with, and their judgment is impaired. And those are the people -- we always have a vulnerable list that we are extraordinarily worried about on cold spells like this and we work with the EMTs, we work with police, we certainly work with our department of mental health to try and get those folks to come in.
But I know it sounds obvious to the rest of us, why wouldn't you just go in if there was someplace warm to go. People are responding to a different set of thoughts than you or I might be.
WHITFIELD: Right, that's why I asked.
DOWNIE: Right, exactly. And so, look, our team has been out. They're a great team, and if they really thought someone wasn't going to make it, we would try and section someone, we would work with EMTs and the police to try and get them into the emergency room. WHITFIELD: All right, well, I know your efforts are greatly
appreciated. Lyndia Downie, thank you so much. Thanks for your time and thanks for what you're doing.
DOWNIE: Well, thank you.
WHITFIELD: Seismic developments tied to the Chinese spy balloon. The FAA has now issued a ground stop at three airports across the Carolinas and restricts airspace for national defense and has expanded that window. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:36:40]
WHITFIELD: Back to our breaking news. The FAA issuing ground stops and restricting airspace at three airports in North and South Carolina as a suspected Chinese spy balloon flies overhead. It was last seen crossing the state line of North Carolina into South Carolina near York County, flying at over 60,000 feet above ground.
CNN's Tom Foreman joining us right now with more on this. So Tom, we've now seen this balloon go from Montana to North and now South Carolina. This is very significant that they would now have restricted airspace along the coast of the Carolinas.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And if you add up what officials say they believe happened, that it left China, came up this way past Anchorage, sort of that area, and then down here to the next area where we saw it, which was this part where there were sightings from up in Montana down through here, all the way to where we are now, that's about 8,500 miles. That's a long time to be flying. And now we're down at this area where we're talking about it coming here, and the possibility of it being shot down.
A couple of things that are important to think about here if you listen to military analysts and the others talk about it. First of all, you can't just necessarily let it go forever. It needs to be shot down in what would be considered the territorial space of the United States. It doesn't have to be, but that's kind of the target, somewhere about 14 statute miles out, give or take, depending on how they figure these sorts of things.
But here's the question. If you think about what this balloon is, the nature of it, this thing has been up at about 60,000 feet, so twice as high as airplanes fly, this is high enough that you and I could not survive out there. It's way too cold and not enough atmosphere out there, but this is about 11 miles up, way, way, short of space, which is more like 62,000 miles at the Karman Line. But it's still way up there.
This may be carrying, if you look at this balloon, according to what the military says, this part of the structure right here is about 90 feet. I'm drawing to where it's presumed to be if it's mirroring that, about 90 feet in length. And balloons like this can actually carry thousands of pounds. So the question becomes, even if you're going to shoot this down, how do you shoot it down from that height safely to preserve what you want to get from this thing here, and how do you do it in the water and how do you catch it?
Maybe you can somehow shoot the balloon in such a way it's disabled and it starts dropping slowly. But, again, what you have to do is try to drop it in a zone where you can easily get to it quickly in a boat. If it's dropping slowly, it can also drift. And one thing that's worth noting here, if it gets to the water and you don't catch it right away and it starts sinking, interesting, 35 miles in, you're going to have about 650 feet of water in this area. Past that, there's a sharp drop- off, and it goes to 6,500 feet.
So the truth is, if they want to recover this, there really is a magical zone right in here that would seem to be the right place to do that. Don't know it. There are many things that could change about this. But if you bring it down slowly, the potential for drift is obviously higher. If you bring it down fast, it could hit the water so fast it would do a lot of destruction to what you're trying to get after anyway.
[14:40:00]
So this is a tricky thing, just in terms of sheer physics. Put aside all the politics, which are also very tricky, the physics of bringing this down to get the most out of it for the government, military analysts, intelligence analysts, that's a tricky thing to do, even after an 8,500-mile trip.
WHITFIELD: Right. Calculating the risks to reward here is extraordinary, the level of accuracy based on what the goal is, that is at stake. Tom foreman --
FOREMAN: A lot to do.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it really is. Thank so you much. Appreciate that.
So meantime, there's that, and then the Pentagon says there is a second Chinese spy balloon, this one traveling across Latin America. CNN's Rafael Romo is back with us. So what are you learning about this balloon?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: It was very interesting, Fredricka. A couple of days ago we started noticing that there was a lot of media chatter talking about a little white dot in the middle of the sky in at least a couple of Latin American countries, namely Colombia and Costa Rica. After more sightings, finally the Pentagon said Friday night that there was, indeed, a second balloon that belonged to the Chinese. And so in a way, it confirms what the nature of those sightings were.
And let me read to you the statement that the Pentagon sent to CNN Friday night, Fredricka. They said, we are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.
Now, it is interesting to point out that one of these sightings happened in San Jose, this is the capital of Costa Rica, and CNN has been able to geolocate the video to the specific location of the capital, so meaning this is not just any random appearance, any random sighting. It corresponds to what the Pentagon has been saying.
Now, we've been trying to get any sort of official reaction from either of these two governments, Colombia and Costa Rica. We haven't heard anything so far. There are some media reports citing Columbian military officials, saying that, indeed, there was an object flying at 70,000 feet.
WHITFIELD: Rafael, let me just interrupt you for a moment because now I'm hearing witnesses say that it has actually been shot down. Now, at the Pentagon, our Oren Liebermann, what more can you tell us about this, Oren?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We haven't gotten official confirmation from the Pentagon, but apparently there's video of this being shot down, because this was right off the coast, essentially. We saw where the temporary flight restriction was starting right over the coast of North and South Carolina.
And people have been spotting this as it made its way across the United States. So perhaps it's not too surprising that when presumably the Air Force and the Navy sent assets, sent fighter jets to shoot this down, it would simply be visible to the people on the ground who were able to track this.
Now, of course, we wait for more information from the Pentagon. First, official confirmation that this is, in fact, what we expect it to be and what all of the indications have been building up towards throughout the day. The temporary flight restriction, the military aircraft we saw in the area, as well as Pentagon officials here early this morning, especially high-level Pentagon officials. So we're still waiting for that confirmation, and then more information about everything that built up to this at this point.
WHITFIELD: OK, Oren, thanks so much. Hold tight, Oren, because we have on the line with us someone who is identified as an eyewitness to the shooting down of that balloon. His name is Travis. That's all I know. Travis, can you tell me more, a little bit more about who you are, fully identify yourself? What did you see?
TRAVIS HUFFSTETLER, WITNESSED BALLOON BEING SHOT DOWN: Yes, ma'am. My name is Travis Huffstetler and I am a local photographer in the Myrtle Beach area. And I came out to see the balloon. It was flying over, so I come out here to the water's edge. I got a call from you guys. And as I was talking to the lady on the phone, I seen a missile come out from a fighter jet, and it hit the balloon. The balloon deflated and it's still floating down right now.
WHITFIELD: OK, Travis, I'm just going to ask you, I'm going to try and repeat some of what I heard from you because the signal is a little spotty there. You're saying you're a local photographer in the Myrtle Beach area. I don't know if that was us losing the signal there. But Travis has said he was a local photographer in the Myrtle Beach area. He is saying that he saw some sort of missile come at -- or strike the balloon, and then saw the balloon deflate. Are you still with me, Travis?
HUFFSTETLER: Yes. Yes, ma'am. Can you hear me now?
WHITFIELD: Yes. Oh, that's better. OK, all right --
HUFFSTETLER: So yes, so as I was talking with the other lady, I seen, I guess, a missile or something come from the airplane, and it struck the balloon.
[14:45:00]
The balloon basically, like, popped, like you would see a normal balloon kind of pop. And now it's still drifting and floating down as we speak.
WHITFIELD: With the naked eye, are you telling me with the naked eye or through your lens, you're able to see the balloon drifting?
HUFFSTETLER: It was with the naked eye. It was super visible here from the beach. I know all the accesses are covered with people, so everybody just witnessed it.
WHITFIELD: So you were around a lot of people witnessing this?
HUFFSTETLER: No, I come up to the 15th floor of this hotel so that I could see it a little closer and get a little bit better viewpoint. But, yes, all the beach accesses are packed, people standing on the roads pointing their cameras up, people out in the middle of the street. It's pretty intense, especially when --
WHITFIELD: Travis, did you see one aircraft?
HUFFSTETLER: No, there's been multiple aircrafts flying around it this whole time. You can see their jet trails and stuff, they were getting close to it. I guess as soon as it got far enough out over the water, they decided to pull the trigger, and they shot it down. You can see the missile flying through the air, I guess because of how the clouds are right now. You could definitely tell what was happening.
WHITFIELD: So Travis --
HUFFSTETLER: I can't see it now. I lost track of it because I stepped back so I could talk to you all.
WHITFIELD: I see. OK, so, actually, the producer is in my ear who you were talking to, Travis. And while you were setting up the shot, you all were talking about -- you were talking about joining us. You were setting up your shot, and then at that moment it happened. So when you were setting up your shot, does that mean you were or were not able to capture it happening, or you purely eye-witnessed it with your own eyes only?
HUFFSTETLER: I definitely witnessed it with my eyes. I'm going back in the footage now. It happened so fast.
WHITFIELD: How many airplanes did you see around this balloon? And what span of time between you seeing the airplane activity and then actually seeing what you are claiming to be a missile strike?
HUFFSTETLER: They've been flying around it for, I don't know, probably about --
WHITFIELD: I'm sorry, say that again. For about how long?
HUFFSTETLER: They've been flying around it for 20, 30 minutes, probably, if that. At least as far as whenever I started seeing it, because you're seeing normal air traffic at first, and then whenever they announced they shut down the airport, all of a sudden you started seeing the jets coming in.
WHITFIELD: And as far as you could tell, Travis, you saw one -- what you believed to be one missile in the air before that balloon was pierced?
HUFFSTETLER: Yes, ma'am. And I only got footage of it right after it struck it. It kind of like disintegrated, just barely. I fumbled it. I messed up.
WHITFIELD: No, that's extraordinary.
HUFFSTETLER: I believe my buddy down in Pawleys Island was able to capture it.
WHITFIELD: Interesting. You spoke to your friend in Pawleys Island, which is there at the South Carolina --
HUFFSTETLER: I was talking to him. I was, like, hey, you know, we need to get this. He said he was out there. I'm, like, can you livestream it? He said he was trying to find the crew to do it, but I don't know if he got the video or not. Hopefully he did.
WHITFIELD: Well, extraordinary timing and you had the wherewithal to get on the 15th floor of a building, of a hotel in order to get the best vantage point as a photographer. That's part of the craft, right, looking for the best vantage point.
You couldn't know when it was going to happen. But then you're saying you saw it with your own eyes, the strike, and the disintegration of the balloon. We still would love to see your images when you have them uploaded. Pardon?
HUFFSTETLER: I do have photos of it. I just didn't catch the full video of it actually striking it.
WHITFIELD: OK, well, we still would love to see those images of what you were able to get after that balloon was pierced. Travis, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
I want to bring in also Jim Sciutto who is on the line with us. So Jim, we've been talking about how the incredible coordination involving the U.S. military, all of the airports with the three ground stops at three airports in North and South Carolina. And now, with this speed, we're hearing from one eyewitness -- we have not gotten confirmation from the Pentagon, but this eyewitness who says he saw with his own eyes the takedown of this balloon.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and CNN is now reporting that a U.S. official confirms the U.S. military shot down the Chinese spy balloon just off the U.S. east coast.
[14:50:03]
I think we should take a moment here to acknowledge this is a serious moment in the relationship between two superpowers, the U.S. and China. The first moment, of course, being that China deployed this balloon, which the U.S. says is a surveillance aircraft over the U.S., slow moving for days over the continental U.S., including over sensitive military sites, among them an ICBM missile base in the northern part of Montana. So that being the first significant move. The U.S. tracking it for some time, and then making the decision to use military force to take that surveillance balloon down.
These are significant events in what is already a deeply tense relationship between the U.S. and China. There was a lot of anticipation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China at this point to help cool those tensions to some degree with both China and the U.S. showing interest in doing that.
But the arrival of this balloon leading Blinken to postpone, at least postpone that trip a few days ago. And you've seen the Chinese defense ministry seeming to attempt some sort of damage control internationally, claiming that this was an accident.
But this is quite a moment between these two superpowers at a tense time. Any time military force is used against another's assets, it's significant, and of course any time a country, as China appears to have done here, deploys a highly capable surveillance asset over the U.S., it's significant as well. It's a tense time, and we should be very conscious of that and be following this relationship very closely in the coming days and weeks.
WHITFIELD: Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.
Back to Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann. So Oren, paint the picture for us about the scramble now to retrieve the debris, the assets, the intel.
LIEBERMANN: That's one of the key questions here. This balloon and its payload the size of three school buses, with what one U.S. official told CNN appears to be a solar panel ray. How much of that survives from a fall of 60,000 feet and what can you glean, what can you learn from whatever it is that you recover after it falls into the ocean?
Well, a defense official tells CNN that there are Navy and Coast Guard assets on standby to try to assist in the recovery of whatever it is that can be salvaged from this if possible. Now that the U.S. confirms and a U.S. official tells CNN President Biden approved this decision, now that the balloon has been downed with its payload, the question, what intelligence is there to gather? The U.S. had said, the Pentagon had said, for that matter, that this
was maneuverable, it had the ability to loiter. It had capabilities well beyond what a, quote-unquote, weather balloon would have had. Now it's the U.S.'s turn to do its own series of intelligence gathering, to collect its own information about whatever it can gather from this spy balloon now that it has been downed and fallen from 60,000 feet down into the ocean below off the coast of South Carolina there.
It is worth noting there that the temporary flight restriction that the U.S. had put in place around this military operation has expired, so the airspace is open, although there still is a ground stop. That gives you an idea of how carefully this was timed from all the assets, including the military assets we were watching a bit earlier today. And now what goes from tracking this to recovering parts of it, if possible.
WHITFIELD: Right. And then Oren, are you able to reveal or can you share whether the Pentagon has even shared what kind of assets or components do they believe might be associated with this balloon?
LIEBERMANN: That we haven't learned yet. That will be part of the questioning here. We're waiting for some official statement or some official acknowledgment from the Pentagon. So far this is only coming from U.S. officials who have confirmed the steps taken to shoot down the balloon and confirmed that President Biden had approved this.
Let me take a quick look here and check email and see if there's any more information at this point. It doesn't look like there is, but obviously we're waiting for more information, and we'll pass that along as it comes in. The specific method of taking down the balloon is unclear, but the order was given by Biden. Officials say it was presented and supported by military leadership, so now it's more about what we can learn about that process and, of course, what we can learn about what was on the balloon itself.
WHITFIELD: OK, Oren Lieberman, thank you so much. We'll allow you to get back to your sources and reporting. Thank you so much.
Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is with us now. And so Pete, talk to me about what we understand to be the ground stop has been extended even though officials, the Pentagon, is confirming that there has been a takedown of this balloon.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the ground stop extended for Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, until 5:15 eastern standard time, so another two-and-a-quarter hours left until that expires.
The restricted airspace that was put in place at the request of the Department of Defense, it was put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration to essentially protect the area below this apparent shoot-down, was the size of two state of Massachusettses, if that's a plural, twice the size of the state of Massachusetts.
[14:55:16] The biggest area of restricted airspace in the continental U.S. So we see exactly why that was put into place here now that we know this balloon was apparently shot down at the order of President Joe Biden. This is a very interesting area as well, because this is not too far away from some really key military bases where many fast fighter jets are placed.
That includes Norfolk where the Navy has Naval Air Station Oceana, Super Hornets there. Of course there is also the F-22 out of Joint Base Langley-Eustis. So this is clearly a bit of a strategic move as well, although the goal was by the FAA to essentially protect the airspace below this apparent shoot-down.
This balloon we know from the Pentagon was cruising at an altitude of 60,000 feet, which is very high. It's about twice the altitude of a commercial airliner, usually between 30,000 and 40,000 feet. And they wanted to protect that area off the coast of North and South Carolina to make sure that if any debris was to fall from this, it would not fall on airplanes below.
There is still a bit of a trickle-down here, apparently, according to the latest alert from the FAA, that the ground stop will remain in place at those three airports until 5:15. So that could have a bit of a trickle-down on flights up and down the east coast as well. A lot of people going to and from Florida on a Saturday in the middle of the winter. We'll see how this impacts air travel going on and going forward.
So far, no major delays or cancellations just yet, although we're seeing the layers of coordination that took place here, not only from the Department of Defense, but also from the Federal Aviation Administration, simply to clear the airspace to make sure that this operation could take place in a safe manner. Pretty incredible.
WHITFIELD: Right, incredible orchestration. Pete Muntean, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.
At the White House now, Arlette Saenz. Arlette, what can you tell us about where the president was at this time? Confirmation he, of course, gave the greenlight for this to happen.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, as it was confirmed that this balloon was taken down, President Biden is currently on Air Force One flying from Syracuse, New York, to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he will be spending the weekend at Camp David.
Shortly before he took off, according to the print poolers who were traveling with him, the president gave a thumb's up when they asked whether he was going to take down the plane. And officials have said that President Biden did authorize this operation to go ahead and take down that spy balloon.
And the president has been receiving these updates about possible options he could take throughout the week, and beginning on Tuesday when he was first briefed on that matter. But so far, officials have said that that balloon has been taken down. It's still being determined in what manner, exactly, it was taken down, and now those recovery efforts are also under way.
WHITFIELD: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much.
Is the White House willing to reveal in any way -- I mean, the number often assets that will be involved in trying to retrieve? I mean presumably, and we hear it from the Pentagon that there's going to be a coordinated effort between the Navy and Coast Guard, but do we know anything more about how they will retrieve the debris?
SAENZ: No indications from people here at the White House exactly how that will all play out. Of course, President Biden is expected to land on Air Force One in Hagerstown, Maryland, in about half an hour. So we will see whether the president himself might have anything to say about this operation. But they are taking very careful steps to try to find --
WHITFIELD: Arlette, hold right for a second. We've got video right now. I'm being told that this is video of the actual takedown of that balloon. Let's see if we can see the contact there. Obviously, we see something in the air. I don't want to presume that that was a missile. But now we see a portion of something. Maybe that is the balloon deflating, and now falling.
I didn't get a chance to see the actual impact. I think we picked it up just after what potential impact -- there we go. We're re-queueing it now. That's much better. Now we can see with accuracy. Incoming.
