Late last week, a balloon was spotted over Hawaii, prompting the U.S. military to release new information about the incident on Monday afternoon.
A Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson revealed in a statement that the DOD and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detected and monitored the balloon on April 28th using recently established airspace monitoring parameters.
The spokesperson noted that the balloon, which was unmanned and flying at around 36,000 feet off the coast of Hawaii, had no identifiable owner.
They further emphasized that there was “no indication that it was maneuvering or being controlled by a foreign or adversarial actor.”
The statement also clarified that the mysterious balloon did not fly directly over any defense critical infrastructure or sensitive U.S. government sites and posed no military or physical threat to people on the ground.
Despite the balloon flying at an altitude commonly used by civil aviation, officials confirmed that it did not pose a threat to civilian flights.
The statement concluded, “Based on these observations, the Secretary of Defense concurred with the recommendation of his military commanders that no action need be taken against the balloon.”
The balloon has since left Hawaii’s airspace and territorial waters.
NBC News reported earlier on Monday that the balloon is believed to be heading toward Mexico.