The suspected Chinese spy balloon wasn't flagged as an urgent warning and top officials weren't immediately alarmed by it, sources say.
Officials familiar with the original DIA report conceded Rubio's point that they didn't see the balloon as an urgent threat until it was already over US territory -- even as fresh revelations have emerged about what the US knew about Chinese spy balloons.
It was only when the balloon turned south that it "got strange," a senior US official told CNN. "We immediately started talking about shooting it down, then."On January 28, when the balloon entered US airspace near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, sent up fighter jets to make a positive identification, according to defense officials, reflecting a subtle shift in urgency.
How much control China exerted over the balloon's path remains a matter of debate. Although the balloon was equipped with propellers and a rudder that allowed it to turn "like a sailboat," according to the senior US official, it largely rode the jet stream -- one of the reasons US officials were able to predict its path across the US in advance.
The "tipper" sent by the DIA also goes out across government channels routinely, and although US officials have access to these reports, whether they read them or whether those reports are included in briefings to senior policymakers is a matter of discretion.
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