New details emerge about the Chinese spy balloon

(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - There are new details about the Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. shot down earlier this year.

Two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official say the balloon, which first entered U.S. airspace over Alaska in January, was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite efforts from the Biden administration to block it from doing so.

The officials said this intelligence was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images.

China has said repeatedly that the balloon, shot down in February, was an unmanned civilian airship that accidentally strayed off course

The National Security Council referred NBC News to the defense department for comment.

The Defense Department directed NBC News to comments by senior officials from February that said the balloon had "limited additive value for intelligence collection by the Chinese government over and above what [China] is likely able to collect through things like "satellites in low earth orbit."