Republican members of Alabama’s delegation to Congress criticized the Biden administration’s response to the Chinese spy balloon observed over American airspace, suggesting the device be dismantled.

“Shoot it down,” said U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Twitter while sharing a news story about the spy balloon.

Tuberville also shared a photo of the projected path of the balloon flying over several states in the middle of the country, including near Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana — home to 150 nuclear missiles.

“Dereliction of duty by the Commander in Chief: allowing a Chinese spy balloon deep into our heartland and hover over nuclear sites,” he said.

NORAD said Thursday it was tracking the balloon and believed it “does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time,” adding that the sphere “is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic.”

U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover, also suggested the balloon be “removed from our airspace immediately, although he did not say what method should be used to get the apparatus out of American skies.

“Why is the spy balloon from the Chinese Communist Party being allowed to continue moving across our country? This is a national security failure by President Biden. The balloon needs to be removed from our airspace immediately,” he said.

China acknowledged the balloon was theirs on Friday and claimed it is a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes.”

China’s foreign ministry alleged winds caused the balloons to veer off course and into American airspace.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, was skeptical of the China’s assertion.

“In a communist society nothing is ‘civilian.’ It’s all about the communist party and feeding its goals, which at the top of the list is to overtake the US in power and influence,” he said Friday.

On Thursday, Aderholt called the incident “very concerning and a blatant example of the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts at spying on and stealing American technology and military secrets.”

A U.S. intelligence official told CNN that while the projected path of the balloon includes some sensitive sites, the Pentagon believes the balloon does not have superior intelligence-gathering capabilities compared to other traditional spying methods.

The Pentagon is “taking steps nevertheless to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information. We are also tracking what abilities it could have in gaining insights, and continue to monitor the balloon as it was over the continental United States,” the official said.