The US believes that the Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down over its territory is likely part of a wider fleet that spans five continents.
“The United States was not the only target of this program,” said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
He added that the US had shared information gathered from the balloon wreckage with dozens of other countries.
China denies the balloon was used for espionage and says it was a meteorological device that went astray.
U.S. officials described the balloon as about 200 feet (60 meters) tall, with a payload section comparable in size to regional airliners and weighing hundreds or possibly thousands of pounds.
His presence in US airspace sparked a diplomatic crisis and prompted Secretary Blinken to immediately cancel a trip to China, the first such high-level meeting between the US and China in years. He was later shot down by an American fighter off the east coast.
Citing unnamed officials, The Washington Post reported that the US believes the alleged surveillance balloon project was carried out from China’s coastal Hainan province and targeted countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Defense Department spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder confirmed that the US believed similar balloons had flown over North and South America, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Europe.
“We’ve learned a lot about these balloons and how to track them,” Gen. Ryder said, adding that the U.S. is now confident it has the ability to “track those capabilities.”
He said that while all the objects were used for surveillance missions, there were “variations” in their size and capabilities.
The U.S. believes the balloons flew over U.S. territory at least four times, but General Ryder did not provide further details about those incidents.
Earlier this week, Washington informed 40 allied nations about the alleged spying program, a senior Biden administration official confirmed to CBS News.
Navy and Coast Guard ships and divers are still searching for the balloon wreckage. It’s unclear what information the U.S. has gleaned from the wreckage so far, though experts say the wreckage could help officials better understand what the balloon was capable of and how it transmitted information.
