III 

★(Star Print)

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 66 

Condemning the use by the People’s Republic of China of a high-altitude 

surveillance balloon over the territory of the United States as a brazen 

violation of United States sovereignty. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2023 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. PETERS, Mr. 

MANCHIN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WYDEN, 

Mr. KELLY, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. COONS, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. 

CRAMER, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. HAGERTY, Mrs. BRITT, and Mr. 

BRAUN) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 

agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the use by the People’s Republic of China of 

a high-altitude surveillance balloon over the territory of 

the United States 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 acknowledged that 

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) 

first began tracking the surveillance balloon on January 


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SRES 66 ATS1S 

28, 2023, prior to the entry of the balloon into United 

States airspace; 

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 national security facilities of the United States, including 

Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana; 

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

aircraft, at the direction of the President acting consistent with military advice, shot down the surveillance 

balloon in the territorial airspace of the United States off 

the coast of South Carolina; 

Whereas, on February 4, 2023, the Department of Defense 

submitted a request for a call between the Secretary of 

Defense and the Minister of National Defense of the 

PRC, Wei Fenghe, a request that the PRC subsequently 

declined; 

Whereas open lines of communication between the United 

States and the civilian and military officials of the PRC 

remain critical to avoid miscommunication or escalation 

to conflict; 

Whereas the United States intelligence community has linked 

the surveillance balloon of the PRC to a broader surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army, and 

United States officials have briefed officials from other 

countries that may have also been targeted; 

Whereas intelligence collection by the PRC directed against 

the United States poses a threat to the interests and security of the United States and extends beyond the capaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR66.ATS SR66

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SRES 66 ATS1S 

bilities demonstrated by the February 2023 incident and 

related incidents; 

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

United States, reports of its espionage have risen significantly in the past decade; 

Whereas the Chinese Communist Party 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’’; 

Whereas, on February 3, 2023, the Secretary of State postponed his 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 the substantial increase in the detection of unidentified aerial phenomena since February 4, 2023 warrants 

further investigation and attention to domain awareness 

gaps identified by United States Northern Command; 

and 

Whereas it is in the national security interest of the United 

States 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 Senate— 


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SRES 66 ATS1S 

1 (1) condemns the brazen violation of United 

2 States sovereignty by the People’s Republic of China 

3 (PRC); 

4 (2) denounces the efforts of the Chinese Com5 munist Party (CCP) to deceive the international 

6 community through false claims about its intel7 ligence collection campaigns in violation of United 

8 States sovereignty, and those regarding other na9 tions where similar incidents have occurred; 

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

11 the United States to act promptly, responsibly, and 

12 decisively to deter and stop foreign aerial surveil13 lance platforms violating United States sovereignty, 

14 including those directed by or connected to the CCP; 

15 and 

16 (4) calls on the President to keep Congress 

17 fully informed by continuing to provide comprehen18 sive briefings on the February 2023 incident, pre19 vious incidents, and the broader efforts of the PRC 

20 in this area that include— 

21 (A) a complete account of all known viola22 tions of United States national airspace by the 

23 PRC in recent years, regardless of platform; 


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SRES 66 ATS1S 

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 timeline of events for the February 

5 2023 incident, from first detection to the even6 tual 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) an assessment of the value of the intel12 ligence that the United States obtained while 

13 the balloon transited the United States and 

14 from the recovery and analysis of physical de15 bris; 

16 (F) a detailed account of what measures 

17 were taken to mitigate the intelligence collection 

18 threat posed by the balloon, the costs of those 

19 measures, and the impact on the regular oper20 ations of the affected installations, platforms, 

21 and personnel; 

22 (G) a description of what options were 

23 identified to mitigate the threat, and a descrip24 tion and timing of the recommendations the 


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1 United States military made regarding those 

2 options; 

3 (H) an account of diplomatic communica4 tions, past and ongoing, between the United 

5 States and the PRC regarding the February 

6 2023 incident, including any demarches by De7 partment of State personnel and subsequent re8 sponses by the PRC; 

9 (I) a detailed description of plans, capabili10 ties, and methods to deter and defeat intel11 ligence collection activities conducted by the 

12 PRC or other foreign adversaries in United 

13 States national airspace and any additional au14 thorities or resources needed from Congress to 

15 ensure detection and defeat of these activities in 

16 the future; 

17 (J) a detailed description of efforts of the 

18 United States to enhance cooperation with part19 ners, allies, and countries affected by the global 

20 surveillance balloon program of the PRC to 

21 push back on the PRC’s practices in this area; 

22 and 

23 (K) a description of efforts to hold the 

24 Government of the PRC, and entities associated 

25 with the design, development, management, and 


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1 deployment of the PRC surveillance balloon 

2 program, accountable for the violation of 

3 United States sovereignty and the sovereignty 

4 of other countries. 

Æ 


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