2024-02-15 05:35:58
Russia is in the process of developing space-based nuclear weapons against satellites, ABC News and the New York Times (“NYT”) reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed US government officials. However, such a deployment has not yet taken place.
In public, U.S. government officials limited themselves to cryptic hints about a serious matter. They assured that there was no need to panic, but did not give any details. The matter is expected to be the subject of a meeting of congressional leaders at the White House on Thursday.
“Serious threat to national security”
First, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the US House of Representatives, Michael Turner, released a statement that spoke of a “serious threat to national security”.
AP/CQ Roll Call/Bill Clark Rep. Turner called for full details to be released
He called on President Joe Biden to declassify all related classified documents “so that Congress, the administration and our allies can openly discuss the necessary actions to respond to this threat.”
Insight required for all congress politicians
In a letter to lawmakers with his Democratic colleague Jim Himes, Turner wrote that the committee had “identified an urgent matter regarding a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known to all congressional politicians.” The Intelligence Committee voted on Tuesday to make secret documents on the matter available to MPs for inspection in a secure room on Thursday.
It is unclear whether the sudden public discussion could have anything to do with a recent rocket launch by Russia. On February 9, a Soyuz rocket launched, carrying a classified Russian Defense Ministry payload into space, according to the Guardian.
White House criticizes gang in public
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan criticized Turner for going public before the White House meeting scheduled for Thursday. He pointed out that a meeting with the “Gang of Eight” had been planned anyway: “We have scheduled a briefing for the members of the House of Representatives ‘Gang of Eight’ for tomorrow,” said Sullivan.
This group of eight includes senior members of Congress from both parties who can be briefed by the president on intelligence activities and covert operations. “That has already been agreed upon. “So I’m a little surprised that Congressman Turner made a public statement today ahead of the scheduled meeting,” Sullivan continued.
Specific threat unclear
It is unclear how specific the threat is – even security advisor Sullivan did not want to put it into perspective. When asked if he could tell Americans that there was nothing to worry about, he replied that it was “impossible to answer with a clear yes,” the NYT quoted him as saying.
AP/Sputnik Kremlin Photo/Kristina Kormilitsyna Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently pulled out of several arms deals
Himes, a Democrat, said the matter was “serious” and agreed with his Republican colleague Turner to focus on the issue, the NYT wrote. But he put the actual threat into perspective: “It won’t ruin your Thursday,” said the MP.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator Marco Rubio spoke in a joint statement and said that the Intelligence Committee had been pursuing the matter “from the beginning,” according to the NYT. However, there are fears that the requested release of information could reveal how these clues were obtained in the first place.
Ukraine aid as a possible background
The White House’s criticism of the Republicans’ actions shows once again how divided US domestic politics is over how to deal with the war in Ukraine. Some Republicans are holding up a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. The Republican Turner is actually considered a supporter of aid to Ukraine.
According to NYT, there is speculation in Washington that Turner is now drumming up speculation in order to put pressure on his own party to pass the funding for Ukraine in the House of Representatives.
Already a topic in “Star Trek”
The stationing of nuclear weapons in space is an issue that has been going on for around six decades – even the television series “Star Trek” talked about nuclear weapons stationed in space by the USA. According to NYT, the US experimented with such technology but never used it. Russia has been developing space options for decades, the paper continued.
Last year, a report highlighted Russia’s weapons to take out satellites, but also noted that Russia does not utilize all of these developed capabilities.
According to the NYT, the use of a nuclear weapon in space would mean a “potentially dramatic escalation”. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits the use of nuclear weapons in space. However, Russia recently withdrew from many arms contracts that date back to the Cold War era.
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