Earlier on Wednesday, Ohio Representative Mike Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence panel, made a vague statement about the “serious national security threat” and urged Mr Biden to reveal all the information about this threat so that it can be openly addressed by Congress, the Administration, and our allies.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the US is keeping a close eye on Russia’s new “anti-satellite” weapons program, which the House Intelligence Committee leader publicly called a “national security threat” after being greatly disturbed by it.
ABC News reported that two sources said the threat came from Russia and involved possible plans to use nuclear weapons in space to destroy satellites.
At Thursday’s White House press briefing, Mr Kirby did not confirm if the threat was nuclear, but he told reporters that Mr Turner’s concern was about “an anti-satellite capability that Russia is developing” and said that the weapon was “space-based” and would break the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that both the United States and Russia agreed to.
He emphasized that the weapon was not ready for use by Russia.
He said this was not a deployed capability and there was no immediate danger to anyone, but Russia’s pursuit of it was worrying.
He said this weapon could not harm or destroy anything on Earth, but they were watching this Russian activity closely and taking it very seriously.
Mr Kirby said the president was fully and regularly updated by his national security team on this Russian capability and he had ordered some initial actions, such as more briefings for congressional leaders, direct talks with Russia, our allies and partners and other countries with stakes in this.
He said White House officials had briefed Mr Turner, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the threat, and Mr Turner had let each House member see the secret intelligence, but the Biden administration would not declassify the intelligence that Mr Turner made public on Wednesday.
He said the US Intelligence Community had serious worries about declassifying this intelligence widely and they thought private talks were better than quickly declassifying and sharing the information.
He said they chose how and when to disclose intelligence in a careful, deliberate and strategic way. “We’re not going to be pushed off that process, no matter what has come out in public in this case,” he said.
He said they would keep Congress, our international partners, the media and the American people as informed as they could.