Pentagon tracking Chinese spy balloon flying over western US

The Pentagon is tracking a Chinese surveillance balloon that’s lingering at high altitude over the western US, home to sensitive sites including nuclear-missile silos, Defense Department officials said. The balloon was loitering over Montana for a short time and briefly caused the grounding of planes in Billings as a precaution, a senior official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity. Officials said it poses no intelligence threat and a decision was made not to shoot it down.