Watch live: Senate holds first hearing on the suspected Chinese spy balloon

(The watercourse is slated to commencement astatine 10:15 a.m. ET. Please refresh the leafage if you bash not spot a video supra astatine that time.)

The Senate connected Thursday is holding its archetypal proceeding connected the Chinese spy balloon that floated implicit the United States past week earlier it was changeable down implicit the weekend.

The Senate Appropriations Committee volition perceive grounds from apical Pentagon officials, including Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II, the manager of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Vice Admiral Sara Joyner, manager of unit structure, resources and assessments for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The proceeding comes arsenic the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard implicit a betterment cognition of the downed spy balloon astir six miles disconnected the seashore of South Carolina. On Saturday, Biden gave the bid to instrumentality the 200-foot-tall spy balloon retired of the sky. The cognition resulted successful an F-22 combatant pitchy shearing a spread successful the bottommost of the balloon with a sidewinder missile.

Pentagon spokesperson U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Wednesday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called his Chinese counterpart connected Saturday pursuing the subject mission. Chinese officials did not judge the call.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the U.S. quality assemblage was studying the balloon and that the U.S. would proceed to update allies arsenic good arsenic countries astir the satellite that whitethorn beryllium victims of Chinese espionage.

"The United States was not the lone people of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries crossed 5 continents," Blinken said astatine the State Department.

"In our engagements, we are again proceeding from our partners that the satellite expects China and the United States to negociate our narration responsibly. That's precisely what we acceptable retired to do. We proceed to impulse China to bash the same," helium added.