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BY LINDSAY GIOVANNONE Columnist Column

On Saturday a Chinese balloon was spotted floating over Montana. The Pentagon stated that the balloon had been in U.S. airspace for “a couple of days” and was “attempting to survey strategic sites.” Chinese authorities insisted that the balloon is a “civilian airship” for weather research and was simply “affected by the westerly wind.”

Because a completely innocuous aircraft from a rival global power just accidentally floats across the Aleutians, down through Canada and near U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile bases. Right.

Lynn McMurdie, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, said that the balloon floating off course is “a plausible explanation” but “it’s preposterous [the Chinese] didn’t guess it would end up in North America.” It also simply doesn’t resemble a weather balloon. Most weather balloons are about twenty feet in diameter, but the Chinese balloon was estimated to be as big as 90 feet. Other key differences were the inordinate amount of equipment it was equipped with and its large distance of travel.

It was not until Saturday, five days after the balloon was first spotted, that it was shot down by an F-22 six nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina. President Biden approved a plan to shoot the balloon down Wednesday, but was told to wait by Pentagon officials who said there was a high risk the falling debris could “potentially cause civilian injuries or deaths or significant property damage.” The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard are in the process of