IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 104 

Condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United 

States sovereignty. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2023 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Mr. FRY, and Mr. ZINKE) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a highaltitude surveillance balloon over United States territory 

as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty. 

Whereas, on February 2, 2023, the Department of Defense 

publicly announced it was tracking over United States 

territory a high-altitude surveillance balloon belonging to 

the People’s Republic of China (PRC); 

Whereas the Department of Defense has since acknowledged 

that North American Aerospace Defense Command 

(NORAD) first began tracking the surveillance balloon 

on January 28, 2023, prior to its entry into United 

States airspace; 


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•HRES 104 IH 

Whereas the Secretary of Defense has stated that the balloon 

‘‘was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil 

strategic sites in the continental United States’’; 

Whereas the surveillance balloon traveled near sensitive 

United States national security facilities, including 

Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana; 

Whereas, on February 4, 2023, a United States Air Force 

aircraft shot down the surveillance balloon off the coast 

of South Carolina; 

Whereas the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) intelligence 

collection directed against the United States poses a 

threat to United States interests and security; 

Whereas, while the PRC has a long history of intelligence collection operations against United States national security 

entities, reports of its espionage have risen significantly 

in recent years; 

Whereas the CCP attempted to spread false claims about the 

nature and purpose of the surveillance balloon, falsely 

claiming it to be a weather balloon that veered off-course 

due to ‘‘force majeure’’ events; 

Whereas, on February 3, 2023, the Secretary of State postponed his planned trip to the PRC and referred to the 

balloon incident as an ‘‘irresponsible act and a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law that undermined the purpose of the trip’’; 

Whereas Article I of the Convention on International Civil 

Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, states 

that ‘‘every State has complete and exclusive sovereignty 

over the airspace above its territory’’; 

Whereas although PRC surveillance balloons have previously 

violated United States airspace, this incident differs from 


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•HRES 104 IH 

those prior violations due to the length of time the balloon spent over United States territory; and 

Whereas it is in the United States national security interest 

to deter foreign adversaries from engaging in intelligence 

collection and other malign activities within United 

States territory and airspace: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the PRC’s brazen violation of 

3 United States sovereignty; 

4 (2) denounces the CCP’s efforts to deceive the 

5 international community through false claims about 

6 its intelligence collection campaigns in violation of 

7 United States sovereignty; 

8 (3) determines that it should be the policy of 

9 the United States to promptly and decisively act to 

10 prevent foreign aerial surveillance platforms, includ11 ing those directed by or connected to the CCP, from 

12 violating United States sovereignty; and 

13 (4) calls on the Biden administration to con14 tinue to keep Congress apprised by providing com15 prehensive briefings on this incident that include— 

16 (A) a complete account of all known infil17 trations of the national airspace by the PRC 

18 over the past several years, regardless of plat19 form; 


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•HRES 104 IH 

1 (B) a complete account of similar past in2 cidents of the PRC’s use of surveillance bal3 loons around the world; 

4 (C) a complete timeline of events for the 

5 most recent infiltration from first detection to 

6 the eventual shootdown of the balloon; 

7 (D) an assessment of what surveillance 

8 data the PRC was potentially able to collect or 

9 transmit, via the balloon while it was over 

10 United States territory; 

11 (E) a detailed account of what measures 

12 were taken to mitigate the intelligence collection 

13 threat posed by the balloon, the costs of those 

14 measures, and the impact on the regular oper15 ations of the affected installations, platforms, 

16 and personnel; 

17 (F) a description of what options were 

18 identified to mitigate the threat, and a descrip19 tion and timing of the recommendation the U.S. 

20 military made to the President regarding those 

21 response options; 

22 (G) a detailed account of diplomatic com23 munications between the United States and the 

24 PRC regarding this incident, including any 


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•HRES 104 IH 

1 demarches by Department of State personnel 

2 and subsequent responses by the PRC; and 

3 (H) a detailed description of plans, capa4 bilities, and methods to deter and defeat intel5 ligence collection activities conducted by the 

6 PRC or other foreign adversaries in the na7 tional airspace system and any additional au8 thorities needed from Congress to ensure detec9 tion and defeat of these activities in the future. 

Æ 


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