Updates, today, from the U.S. Department of Defense:

1. Initial assessment suggests the debris field to be of the rough order of magnitude of about 1,500 meters by 1,500, more than 15 football fields by 15 football fields.

2. A team was on site today to determine if there are potential threats such as explosives on board to destroy the balloon remotely or hazardous materials that could be in batteries in the debris.

3. Maximum precautions were taken to prevent any intel collection while the balloon transited across the United States.

4. Gen. VanHerck said NORAD tracked the balloon as it "approached Alaska. It was my assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America, this is under my NORAD hat. And therefore, I could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent."

5. Without getting into specifics, "we utilized multiple capabilities to ensure we collected and utilized the opportunity to close intel gaps."

6. Multiple options were considered and asked for at multiple levels on whether to try to capture the balloon and how to bring it down. The final decisions that were made were based on safety first.

complete transcript: defense.gov - Gen glen vanherck commander north american aerospace defense command and united