The Pentagon has said it is tracking a Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States but had decided against shooting it down for safety reasons. Defence officials said the balloon has been watched for a couple days since it entered US airspace, flying at high altitude. It has been monitored by several methods including manned aircraft, and has most recently been tracked crossing over Montana. The officials said there was “high confidence” that it was Chinese, but that there was a danger of debris harming people on the ground were it to be shot down. Another factor in the decision was that it did not appear to be gathering any intelligence that could not be collected from satellites, so it was judged to be of little benefit to the Chinese. It did not pose a safety threat as it was well above the flight paths of commercial aircraft.