A senior military official said multiple Navy and Coast Guard vessels are in the area now establishing a security perimeter and searching for debris on the water "to ensure the safety of U.S. civilians."

A Navy salvage vessel will be on scene within a couple of days, according to the official.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

A senior U.S. defense official gave more details about the takedown, stating the balloon was hit at approximately 2:39 p.m. by a single F-22 fighter jet firing a single AIM-9X air-to-air missile.

"Fighter aircraft from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia fired a single missile into the balloon, causing it to crash into the ocean," the official said.

The defense official said there was value in waiting to shoot down the balloon aside from just the safety of people on the ground, and indicated it had intelligence value to the U.S.

"The surveillance balloon's overflight of U.S. territory was of intelligence value to us. I can't go into more detail, but we were able to study and scrutinize the balloon and its equipment, which has been valuable," the official said.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed the Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down by a fighter aircraft as it drifted off the Carolina coast.

"This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, U.S. fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over the water off the coast of South Carolina in U.S. airspace," Austin said in a statement. "The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above U.S. territorial waters."

Austin said military commanders determined downing the balloon while it flew over land "posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload."

"Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the PRC’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," Austin said.

President Joe Biden briefly spoke to reporters after the balloon was "successfully" shot down by the U.S. military.

"I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible. They decided -- without doing damage to anyone on the ground – they decided that the best time to do that was when it got over water outside within a 12 mile limit."

"They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it, and we’ll have more to report on this a little later," he said.

"I told them to shoot it down," Biden repeated when asked if the recommendation came from his national security team. "They said to me, 'Let's wait for the safest place to do it.'"

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder will conduct an on-camera press briefing at noon on Friday as the Biden administration faces questions about what U.S. officials call a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the U.S.

Ryder said in a statement Thursday that the government was tracking the balloon and that it didn't present a military threat.

"Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years. Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information," Ryder said.