The US monitors a possible spy balloon from China that has flown over the national territory for days

By Courtney Kube -

The US government is monitoring a suspected Chinese spy balloon that has been hovering over the continental US for days as authorities discuss shooting it down, according to two US officials and a senior Defense Department official.

[A US general predicts there will be "a war with China in 2025" and asks his officers to train to shoot]

“The government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is currently over the continental United States,” Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the government, told NBC News, a sister network of Noticias Telemundo. Pentagon.

"We continue to track and monitor it closely."

"Once the balloon was detected, the government immediately acted to protect itself against the collection of sensitive information," Ryder added. 

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The balloon was detected on Wednesday over the city of Billings, Montana.

It flew over the Aleutian Islands, near Alaska, and then over Canada, all the way to Montana.

A defense official said the artifact is still on US soil, but declined to say where specifically.