A Chinese surveillance balloon is flying over the continental U.S., Pentagon officials confirmed this week. 

A statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the airship is " used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes" and that it was "affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. "
CBS News, The Washington Post, and CNN have reported that a similar spy balloon was detected over Guam, though reports do not specify when. 

However, in a recent interview on CNN, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper denied any similar incident happening in the U.S. during his time in office from 2019 to 2020. He was previously Secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019. 

KUAM has reached out to Joint Region Marianas and the Office of the Governor of Guam for comment.