WASHINGTON — Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon designed to target U.S. satellites, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The weapon isn’t yet operational, the sources told NBC News, but Moscow’s pursuit of an advanced weapon that could jeopardize America’s vital satellite network has raised concern among U.S. officials, and it prompted the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner, to issue an extraordinary statement earlier Wednesday calling on the White House to declassify information about an unnamed “serious national security threat.”
Turner, R-Ohio, didn’t provide additional details in his statement. The three sources said he was referring to the Russian effort to field a nuclear weapon in space that could take out satellites that serve as a crucial backbone for U.S. civilian communications, navigation, military operations and intelligence gathering.
ABC News first reported that the threat Turner cited in his cryptic statement was about a Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapon.
Turner’s statement also got out in front of what the White House said was a planned briefing for congressional leaders.
President Joe Biden has been tracking the national security threat and directed White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to engage with congressional leaders, according to two U.S. officials.
White House officials conceded the matter is “serious,” but there are ways to “contain” the threat without triggering mass panic, these officials said.
The Kremlin responded Thursday, dismissing the U.S. warnings as a “trick” and “malicious fabrication.”
Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “It is obvious that the White House is trying, by hook or by crook, to encourage Congress to vote on a bill to allocate money,” referring to aid for Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who is Moscow’s point man on arms control, accused Washington of “malicious fabrication,” state news agency TASS reported.
Senior U.S. military officers have voiced concern about the threat posed by Russian and Chinese efforts to build anti-satellite weapons, NBC News has reported.
Turner said his committee had “made available to all Members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat” on Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, House members began trickling in and out of the highly secure room in the basement of the Capitol, known as the SCIF, where the most sensitive, classified information is shared with lawmakers.
Sullivan addressed Turner’s statement at a briefing a short time later and suggested he was perplexed by it because a briefing was already planned for Thursday. A U.S. official confirmed that the briefing Thursday is related to the threat Turner highlighted.
Biden and the Senate are urging the Republican-controlled House to pass aid for Ukraine in its war against the country, as well as aid for Israel and Taiwan. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he wouldn’t bring the Senate-passed aid package to the floor for a vote, saying he wants conservative border security measures added.
Turner recently returned from a congressional delegation trip to Ukraine and said Friday that lawmakers “all have access to the intelligence as to the risk that is faced not only to the United States, our allies, but the world as a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
He added, “There’s overwhelming support in the House of Representatives and in the Senate for support for Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has faced strong pushback after he said at a campaign rally Saturday that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO countries if they didn’t contribute enough to defense as part of the alliance’s mutual protection agreement. He said he would urge Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to those countries.
Trump repeated the story Wednesday night at a rally in South Carolina — though he notably did not mention encouraging Russian aggression this time.
“If they’re not going to pay, we’re not going to protect, OK? … One of the heads of the countries stood up and said, ‘Does that mean that if we don’t pay the bills that you’re not going to protect us?’ I said, ‘That’s exactly what it means, exactly. I’m not going to protect you,'” Trump told the crowd.
A national security supplemental funding package, which includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, is stalled in Congress. Trump was instrumental in killing a larger foreign aid and border security deal in the Senate this month.
Several key lawmakers, including Johnson, said Wednesday that there was no reason to be alarmed by Turner’s statement.
“I want to assure the American people there is no need for public alarm,” Johnson said at the Capitol. “We are going to work together to address this matter, as we do all sensitive matters that are classified, and beyond that, I’m not at liberty to disclose classified information and really can’t say much more, but we just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel, we’re working on it, and there’s no need for alarm.”
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said: “People should not panic — that is unequivocal. People should not panic.”
Turner “is right to highlight this issue, but it’s so sensitive that he is right now not publicly discussing it,” Himes told reporters. “And I don’t want people thinking that Martians are landing or that your Wednesday is going to be ruined. But it is something that the Congress and the administration does need to address in the medium to long run.”
Sullivan said at Wednesday’s briefing that he reached out this week to the Gang of Eight, the top leaders from the House and the Senate, “to offer myself up for a personal briefing.”
“That’s been on the books, so I am a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out publicly today, in advance of a meeting on the books, for me to go sit with him alongside our intelligence and defense professionals tomorrow,” Sullivan told reporters.
He continued: “That’s his choice to do that. All I can tell you is that I’m focused on going to see him, sit with him, as well as the other House members of the Gang of Eight tomorrow, and I’m not in a position to say anything further from this podium.”
Sullivan declined to provide additional details about the briefing but made it clear that he was the one who initiated the meeting.
“I personally reached out to the Gang of Eight. It is highly unusual, in fact, for the national security adviser to do that, and I did that,” he said.
Asked whether the public should be concerned about the threat, Sullivan said, “In a way, that question is impossible to answer with a straight ‘yes’ … because Americans understand that there are a range of threats and challenges in the world that we’re dealing with every single day, and those threats and challenges range from terrorism to state actors, and we have to contend with them.”
“I am confident that President Biden, in the decisions that he has taken, is going to ensure the security of the American people going forward, and I will stand here at this podium and assert that, look you in the eye with confidence, that we believe that we can and will and are protecting the national security of the United States and the American people,” he said.
Rep Mike Garcia, R-Calif., said he urges all members to look at the intelligence. “I urge the president to take this matter seriously, as well. And it’s not a political issue. It’s something that needs the attention of members of Congress and the executive branch,” he said.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said it is one of several “very volatile things that we have to address. … This is something that requires our attention. There’s no doubt. It’s not an immediate crisis but certainly something we have to be very serious about.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Wednesday, “I think more information will be made available as appropriate, hopefully, sooner rather than later.”
Senate leaders aren’t expected to attend the briefing Thursday because the Senate is on a two-week recess.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and the committee’s ranking member, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., were briefed weeks ago about the national security threat identified by Turner, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The intelligence has been made available to all members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Warner and Rubio weren’t given a heads-up about the statement Turner released Wednesday, the two sources said.
And while the House made the intelligence available to all of its members late Tuesday night, the Senate didn’t do the same for all senators until Wednesday afternoon.
By DAN DE LUCE, JULIE TSIRKIN, SCOTT WONG, REBECCA SHABAD and KYLE STEWART/NBC News
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