The Chinese balloon that crossed the continental US from Alaska to the East Coast in February, did not collect any intelligence, the Pentagon officially announced.

The US “took steps to mitigate” the information the spy balloon could have collected, officials said Thursday. Debris collected from the balloon after it was shot down is being analyzed by US intelligence. The incident caused diplomatic tension between the US and China.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Thursday that the US was “aware that (the balloon) had intelligence-gathering capabilities.” But “now our assessment is that he did not collect (information) while in transit through the United States or during his flight from the United States.”

He noted that efforts by the US to mitigate any intelligence gathering “contributed” to the balloon’s failure to gather sensitive information.

General Ryder did not confirm a Wall Street Journal report that American-made equipment was part of the balloon, but noted that Chinese drones in the past they had used American equipment.

The balloon flew for a week over the United States and Canada before it was shot down by a fighter jet off the Atlantic coast at the behest of President Joe Biden.

Sensors from the suspected Chinese spy balloon were later retrieved from the ocean. There was concern that Beijing was using the balloon to gather intelligence while passing over US military bases.

Chinese officials insist it was just a weather balloon and that the US “overreacted” by shooting it down.

The foreign minister Anthony Blinken postponed a diplomatic trip to Beijing because of the incident. The trip finally took place earlier this month.