IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 104 
Condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveil-
lance 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 high- 
altitude 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 col-
lection 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 post-
poned his planned trip to the PRC and referred to the 
balloon incident as an ‘‘irresponsible act and a clear vio-
lation of U.S. sovereignty and international law that un-
dermined 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 bal-
loon 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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the PRC’s brazen violation of 
United States sovereignty; 
(2) denounces the CCP’s efforts to deceive the 
international community through false claims about 
its intelligence collection campaigns in violation of 
United States sovereignty; 
(3) determines that it should be the policy of 
the United States to promptly and decisively act to 
prevent foreign aerial surveillance platforms, includ-
ing those directed by or connected to the CCP, from 
violating United States sovereignty; and 
(4) calls on the Biden administration to con-
tinue to keep Congress apprised by providing com-
prehensive briefings on this incident that include— 
(A) a complete account of all known infil-
trations of the national airspace by the PRC 
over the past several years, regardless of plat-
form; 
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•HRES 104 IH 
(B) a complete account of similar past in-
cidents of the PRC’s use of surveillance bal-
loons around the world; 
(C) a complete timeline of events for the 
most recent infiltration from first detection to 
the eventual shootdown of the balloon; 
(D) an assessment of what surveillance 
data the PRC was potentially able to collect or 
transmit, via the balloon while it was over 
United States territory; 
(E) a detailed account of what measures 
were taken to mitigate the intelligence collection 
threat posed by the balloon, the costs of those 
measures, and the impact on the regular oper-
ations of the affected installations, platforms, 
and personnel; 
(F) a description of what options were 
identified to mitigate the threat, and a descrip-
tion and timing of the recommendation the U.S. 
military made to the President regarding those 
response options; 
(G) a detailed account of diplomatic com-
munications between the United States and the 
PRC regarding this incident, including any 
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•HRES 104 IH 
demarches by Department of State personnel 
and subsequent responses by the PRC; and 
(H) a detailed description of plans, capa-
bilities, and methods to deter and defeat intel-
ligence collection activities conducted by the 
PRC or other foreign adversaries in the na-
tional airspace system and any additional au-
thorities needed from Congress to ensure detec-
tion and defeat of these activities in the future. 
Æ 
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