House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) requested a “Gang of Eight” classified briefing on Feb. 2, after the Pentagon announced that it had been tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon floating over the United States.
The “Gang of Eight” refers to the four congressional leaders from the House and Senate and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence.
On Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder announced that it was tracking “a high altitude surveillance balloon” flying over the United States, at a height “well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”…}