Details outlining the program’s capabilities were meant to refute China’s persistent denials that the balloon was used for spying. Beijing said US accusations about the balloon amount to “information warfare”.

Biden defended the decision to shoot down the device.

And yet, asked in an interview with Spanish language Telemundo Noticias whether the balloon episode represented a major security breach, he said no.

“Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming,” he said.



*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.