The US military has been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern US for the past few days, and military and defense leaders have discussed shooting it out of the sky, two US officials and a senior defense official told NBC News on Thursday.

“The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News. “We continue to track and monitor it closely.”

“Once the balloon was detected, the US government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” Ryder said.

The high-altitude balloon was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. It flew over the Aleutian Islands, through Canada, and into Montana. A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the US but declined to say where it is now.

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of senior military and defense leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck, and other combatant commanders.

Austin was traveling in the Philippines at the time, noted NBC News.

During the meeting, according to the report, the leaders reviewed the threat profile of the Chinese stratospheric balloon and possible response options, and ultimately decided not to recommend taking it out kinetically, because of the risk to safety and security of people on the ground from the possible debris field.

Pentagon leaders presented the options to President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

“Currently we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective over and above what the PRC can do through other means,” the senior defense official said. “Nevertheless we are taking all necessary steps to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information.” The official said the balloon does not pose a threat to civil aviation because of its altitude.

The official said the US military will continue to monitor it closely and will keep the option of taking out the balloon on the table.

The US is confident the balloon belongs to China, the official said, and they have communicated to the Chinese government “through multiple channels both here in D.C. and in Beijing.” The official did not say whether the Chinese admitted the balloon was theirs.