The U.S. Senate Defense Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing Thursday as it looks for answers on the White House's response to the Chinese spy balloon that made its way across parts of the U.S. before being shot down by the military over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Pentagon believes the balloon was part of a larger surveillance program that China has been conducting for "several years." Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday that when previous spy balloons passed over U.S. territory on four separate occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons.

Ryder said it was only through "subsequent intelligent analysis" that the U.S. was able to confirm the previous balloons were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn "a lot more" about the program. He refused to provide any further details about the previous incidents.

China maintains that it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research and has sharply criticized the U.S. for shooting it down.

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