Biden administration ‘planned to keep Chinese spy balloon that hovered over US for weeks SECRET from the public and Congress’: Air Force commander admits device ‘exposed significant gaps’ in intelligence agencies

Officials in the Biden administration planned to keep a Chinese spy balloon hovering over the US secret from the public, it has been claimed, with a top Air Force commander admitting the balloon exposed holes in their intelligence collection.

The balloon entered US airspace on January 28 and was shot down on February 4 after passing over several nuclear missile sites.

In a new report from NBCthe outlet has cited a former senior official briefed on the incident who claims the government intended to keep it secret.

The source said: 'Before it was noticed publicly, the intention was to study it and let it pass us by and never tell anyone about it.'

The Biden administration has remained adamant that the balloon, which Beijing previously denied was a government vessel, did not collect and transmit data.

NORAD chief general Glen VanHerck has said the balloon's presence exposed gaps in the intelligence community

A senior Biden administration official denied that there was an attempt to keep the balloon secret from the exhaust.

They said: 'To the extent this was kept quiet at all, it was largely to protect information shares related to discovery and tracking. At no time was there any intention to hide this from Congress.”

NBC also revealed that Gen. Mark Milley and NORAD chief Gen. Glen VanHerck said during a Jan. 27 phone call that the Pentagon planned to send 5 to 22 fighter jets to gauge its characteristics.

Shortly after that call, fighter jets used targeting pods to determine that the object was indeed a balloon about the size of three school buses and equipped with a surveillance payload.

President Biden was not informed about the balloon until February 1, and the public later learned about it after NBC broke the story.

VanHerck has since said the balloon exposed gaps in the intelligence community and warned that China's balloon program is still ongoing.

He said: 'It has exposed significant holes, long-term holes, so we can see potential threats to the homeland. I think this has opened a lot of people's eyes.

“Time is the opportunity to create deterrence options or, if necessary, defeat options,” adding that the US is still “not where we need to be.”

The F-22 Raptor is seen taking off from Joint Base Langley-Eustis to shoot down the balloon

A U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at the Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over Central America

Another government official also told the newspaper that the balloon “caused so many problems.”

The balloon had drifted eastward and entered U.S. airspace over Alaska on Jan. 28 and was tracked as it flew over Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where nuclear assets are stored.

On February 4, the Air Force sent an F-22 fighter jet armed with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to shoot down the balloon over water.

The balloon turned out to have a self-destruct mechanism that could have been activated remotely from China.

NBC also reported that it was remotely controlled from China at some points, while also using the wind and jet stream to push it over America.

After being brought down, the balloon fell into the waters off the coast of South Carolina, with divers and underwater robots deployed to recover the remains.

Throughout the episode, Beijing continued to insist that the aircraft was used for “meteorological purposes” and strongly opposed its destruction.

President Biden would further suggest that Chinese leaders may not have been aware of the spy balloon.

He told reporters: “China has some legitimate problems that are not related to the United States.

The Chinese spy balloon was shot down by an F-22 over the South Carolina coastline on Saturday

President Joe Biden downplayed the recent Chinese spy balloon that floated across the US, saying he thinks China's leaders may not have been aware of it

“And I think one of the things that caused that balloon wasn't so much that it got shot down.

“I don't think management knew where it was and knew what was in there and knew what was going on. I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.”

It comes after a report earlier this week that a Chinese spaceplane launched into orbit last week was sending powerful signals over the US.

The spacecraft – named Shenlong after a spirit dragon from Chinese mythology – released six mysterious objects after reaching Earth's orbit for the third time in three years.

The objects are being tracked by the US Space Force, but no details have been publicly released about what they are or what purpose they serve.

Amateur astronomer Scott Tilley tracked the plane and examined the signals it emitted.

He told DailyMail.com that they appear to emit the strongest signals as they fly across North America.

An announcement in the Chinese press described the spaceplane's purpose as providing “technical support for the peaceful uses of space” – but the nation has kept the details secret.