The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, made this Wednesday a statement as cryptic as it was disturbing, which has caused concern in Washington: his commission has communicated to lawmakers in Congress information about a “threat of serious national security”, without specifying its nature. American media assure that the problem is related to Russia. Turner called for the release of all information related to the case so that “we can speak openly about the measures needed to respond to this threat,” while other MPs have warned that there is no need to lose calm .
In a White House news conference to discuss aid to Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted that he had already scheduled a meeting with Turner and other senior intelligence officials in Congress for Thursday to discuss the matter. “It has been planned for some time, so I am surprised that the chairman of the committee raised the issue publicly before a meeting with me, the defense and intelligence leaders,” he commented.
Several US media outlets claim that the intelligence information has to do with Russia's interest in stationing a nuclear weapon in space. According to the ABC television station, the aim is not to attack the Earth from there, but to use it against artificial satellites. “It’s something very concerning and very sensitive,” one of his sources said. The New York Times points out that this technology is “still in development and Russia has not yet used it.” Therefore, it represents an urgent threat to the United States, Ukraine or the United States’ European allies.”
“I call on President Biden to declassify all information related to this threat so that Congress, the administration and our allies can speak openly about the actions needed to respond to this threat,” said Turner, who did not provide further information has.
The statement from the chairman of the Intelligence Committee comes as the American political world is immersed in an intense debate about how to respond to the threat from rivals such as Russia and other authoritarian countries. Former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee in November's election, has defended an isolationist policy and indicated last weekend that he would disregard the obligation of mutual aid, the principle of NATO, if Russia attacked one of its member countries not spend 2% of their GDP on defense. Trump has also opposed any foreign aid other than loans.
In contrast, US President Joe Biden has described Biden's comments as “stupid” and “dangerous”. The Democrat defends the United States' global engagement as necessary for the national security of the world's leading economy. And part of that commitment is to maintain economic and military assistance to Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion. His administration is urging the House of Representatives to approve the $95 billion bill to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which was approved by the Senate on Tuesday; He argues that a defeat by Kiev would encourage Moscow to further aggression against US-allied countries.
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In a joint statement, the top Democratic and Republican senators on the House Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, each noted that their committee has access to the intelligence data that Turner and who have “rigorously” followed the events. Like other lawmakers, they have called for calm and caution.
“We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing the appropriate response with the administration. “In the meantime, we must be cautious about the possibility of disclosing sources and methods that could be critical to protecting a range of U.S. courses of action,” Warner and Rubio point out. The Portal agency, citing a source familiar with the matter, says that both senators were informed about the threat two weeks ago.
The ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes, has noted that the allegations made in Turner's statement are significant, “but not cause for panic.” “The question of whether the matter can be declassified is a worthwhile debate, but not public,” he added.
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