Another Chinese Spy Balloon Traveling Over Latin America: Pentagon

A second Chinese spy balloon is traveling over Latin America, the Pentagon’s press secretary said in a statement Friday to the media.

Officials said that it does not appear to be heading to the United States, where a similar balloon was first reported over Montana, home to one of the nation’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base. 

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told CNN.

The Pentagon has said the balloon over the U.S. is being used for surveillance, and is not, as China has claimed, a “civilian airship” primarily conducting weather research that was blown off course. 

According to the Pentagon, the balloon over the U.S. does not present a current threat, though some Republican lawmakers are calling for it to be shot down. Donald Trump Jr. has also called for Montana residents to bring it down, but it is so far out of range that his suggestion was mocked on Twitter.

The military is continuing to monitor the balloon as it moves eastward across the central section of America.