(NewsNation) — A Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States for a week in February reportedly used a U.S. internet service provider to communicate.
U.S. intelligence officials determined the balloon connected to the U.S.-based company to send and receive communications to China primarily for navigation, according to NBC News. The news outlet cited two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the intelligence assessment.
The Biden administration sought a warrant from the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about the balloon, NBC reported, and the White House planned to keep it a secret.
The internet service provider denied that the balloon used its network, according to NBC, which did not disclose the name of the company.
Reports of the balloon began to surface in February after it was spotted flying over Montana. At the time, the Pentagon said it posed no threat to air traffic or people on the ground.
The military continued to monitor the balloon as it traversed the country before shooting it down over the Atlantic Ocean off the South Carolina coast.
A few weeks after it was shot down, the Pentagon released a photo of U-2 pilot flying over the balloon. The photo provided a close look at the balloon and its payload, which appeared to include solar panels and antennae.
China denied it was used for surveillance, instead claiming it was a weather balloon that went off course.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, maintained to NBC News that it was a weather balloon.
“As we had made it clear before, the airship, used for meteorological research, unintentionally drifted into U.S. because of the westerlies and its limited self-steering capability,” Liu said in a statement. “The facts are clear.”
Former U.S. officials told the news outlet that China has used commercial internet service providers in various companies before, “often as a backup communications network.”
The Pentagon has previously said the balloon was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for several years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
