Congressional leaders sounded the alarm over a potential Russian program to place nuclear weapons in space. Should the effort be successful it would be the first known deployment of nuclear weapons in space.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) wrote that the United States faced a “serious national security threat.” He said that his committee had shared the information with all members of Congress.
“I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat,” he wrote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) added that he requested the Biden administration meet with him to “discuss a serious national security issue that is classified.” He added that the administration agreed to the request and would meet this week with leaders of both parties.
“I will press the administration to take appropriate action, and everybody can be comforted by that,” he added.
Johnson also said that there was no need for public panic.
The speaker said that he was “not at liberty” to discuss the situation further, but said that “steady hands are at the wheel, we’re working on it.”
A further statement by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), who sit on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, added that they have the “intelligence in question” and that their committee had been “rigorously tracking this issue from the start.”
Information regarding the exact details remains unclear. However, from the tenor of the statements from Congress, it would appear that the program would represent a significant leap in Russian military technology and capabilities.
It appears that the Russian government is attempting to place the nuclear weapons in low-earth orbit, potentially to target satellites. Washington sources indicate that the program has not yet placed a nuclear weapon into orbit at this time.
Furthermore, Russia has undertaken a number of secretive space launches in recent months that appear to bear out concerns.
Three U.S. Officials told CNN tonight that they have received New Intelligence recently on the Russian Armed Force’s Capabilities to Deploy a Space-Based Anti-Satellite Nuclear Weapons System into Low Orbit; however, it is Unclear how far the System has come, but that it is still… pic.twitter.com/42OySbcsLY
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 15, 2024
U.S. officials seem to believe that the prospective Russian nuclear space program would be used as a potential means to destroy American satellites.
