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 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 capabilities demonstrated by the February 2023 incident and related incidents