White House national security advisor John Kirby told reporters that a national security threat brought forward by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, is related to an anti-satellite capability Russia is developing, though he dodged many questions regarding the classified information.
Fox News later learned that the intelligence related to Russian nuclear capabilities in space which could threaten satellites, including potentially knocking out U.S. military communications and reconnaissance.
On Wednesday, Turner released a statement saying that “the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has made available to all Members of Congress information concerning a serious national threat.”
In the letter, Turner requested Biden declassify all information relating to the threat so that Congress, the Administration and U.S. allies can openly discuss the actions needed to respond to the threat.
HOUSE INTEL CHAIR TURNER WARNS OF ‘SERIOUS NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT,’ URGES BIDEN TO DECLASSIFY
Kirby addressed the threat during a White House press briefing Thursday, saying the anti-satellite capability Russia is developing is not active and has not been deployed.
While Russia’s pursuit of the capability is “troubling,” he said, there is no threat to anyone’s safety.
“We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth,” Kirby told reporters. “That said, we’ve been closely monitoring this Russian activity and will continue to take it very seriously.”
Biden has reportedly been fully informed of the situation by his national security team and has directed a series of actions, including briefings for congressional leaders, and direct diplomatic engagement with Russia, U.S. allies, partners and other countries that have interests at stake.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was expected to meet with House leadership and committee chairs to brief them on the latest analysis of the Russian pursuit. Kirby also said the Senate will be briefed on the matter when they are back in session on Feb. 25.
“We make decisions about how and when to publicly disclose intelligence in a careful, deliberate and strategic way, in a way that we choose,” he said. “We’re not going to be knocked off that process regardless of what, in this particular case, has found its way into the public domain. I can assure you that we will continue to keep members of Congress, as well as our international partners and all of you and the American people, as fully informed as possible.”
US LAUNCHES MISSILE-DETECTING SATELLITES INTO ORBIT AS CONCERNS ABOUT RUSSIA IN SPACE GROW
As to the type of technology, Kirby said intelligence officials are analyzing the information available and could not speak specifically to it, only to say it is not an active capability and has not yet been deployed.
He was pushed on whether the information was approved by the Biden administration, as an hour before the press briefing the Intelligence Committee put out a notice saying the language had been approved by the administration.
“If there’s a presumption here that somehow the administration gave a green light for this information to get public yesterday…that is false. That did not happen,” Kirby said. “We were eventually going to get to a point where we were going to be able to share it with the American people, and we still will as appropriate. As I said in my opening statement, we’ll keep you informed as we can.”
Kirby told reporters any anti-satellite capability should be of concern because there are private and public satellites circling Earth every day, assisting with communications, transportation and more.
He explained that any potential possibility to take out a satellite that provides services to the people of Earth should be of concern to anyone.
Kirby also pointed out that astronauts in low orbits could be at risk from anti-satellite capability, putting human lives at risk.
On Thursday, the U.S. launched multiple satellites capable of detecting global missile launches into orbit, less than a day after Turner raised concerns of Russia’s space-based weapons capability.
The launch, overseen by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, includes six satellites in total. Two belong to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and four others are with the Space Development Agency (SDA).
Anders Hagstrom and Brooke Singman of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
