U.S. officials monitored the since-shot down Chinese spy balloon for nearly a week after it lifted off near the Communist mainland, and the object might not have been intended to cross over America, according to The Washington Post.
The surveillance balloon shot down off South Carolina's coast Feb. 4 initially took off from Hainan Island near China's south coast, the Post reported.
U.S. officials watched the balloon on a path that appeared to be taking it over the U.S. territory of Guam. However, the object took an unexpected northern turn, several U.S. officials told the outlet.
Analysts are probing the possibility that China didn't set out to have the object penetrate the U.S. heartland, the Post reported.
The new account suggests that the international crisis created by the balloon, in part, may have been the result of a mistake, according to the Post.
Although officials have said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) previously sent spy balloons over Guam and Hawaii to monitor U.S. military installations, the balloon's extended flyover was new.
Post sources said the spy balloon caused confusion inside the Chinese government, with diplomats spreading a cover story that the balloon had been blown off course while it was collecting innocuous meteorological data.
The spy balloon eventually floated over Alaska's Aleutian Islands, drifted over Canada, and then was pushed south into the continental U.S., the officials told the Post.
After initially expressing "regrets" over what it insisted was a wayward weather balloon, the Chinese government then blamed the Biden administration for overreacting.
China also accused the U.S. of sending 10 spy balloons over China, something the White House has denied.
The U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast Feb. 4 after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America.
U.S. intelligence officials say the downed Chinese spy balloon is part of an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military.
Three other aerial objects have been shot down since then, the last being Sunday when military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday said there's no evidence the three aerial objects taken down during the weekend were conducting surveillance for the Chinese.