The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is demanding that the Biden administration release all relevant intelligence on the status of Russia’s nuclear anti-satellite program, saying this would allow for a full public debate on the threat posed by Moscow’s project .
Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said in a speech that the Biden administration has failed to decisively confront the Russians over an anti-satellite weapon that could destroy the array of orbiting satellites on which modern society depends for communications and navigation. , could endanger.
“The Biden administration must immediately release all known information about the status of Russia’s nuclear anti-satellite weapons program,” Turner told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.
“[Russian President] Vladimir Putin thrives on secrecy. Putin’s plans and weapons programs must be fully disclosed by the government and understood by the world,” Turner said.
The Republican congressman urged the administration in February to publicly reveal Russian efforts to build a nuclear weapon that can attack satellites, after making a cryptic statement about the need for the White House to release certain information . The administration eventually acknowledged that Russia was developing such a weapon, although it said it was not an imminent threat and did not make public other details.
Turner said the administration has been too slow to act and has deterred from publicly sharing information about the Russian program, which he said prevented a full discussion about how the U.S. and its allies should respond to what he called a potentially “catastrophic” threat to the Russian Empire. all civilian activities in space.
“Intelligence is collected so that you can influence the outcome. It’s not like we can be casual observers,” Turner said after his speech.
The lawmaker said publicly sharing more information about the state of Russia’s anti-satellite work would not jeopardize intelligence gathering “means, methods and techniques” but would help Washington and U.S. allies determine a course of action to prevent that Moscow would deploy such a device. weapon.
Turner also said the U.S. and its NATO allies must jointly pledge to enforce the U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which bans weapons in space.
The Biden administration rejected Turner’s criticism and vowed not to release more information about Russia’s weapons program.
‘He’s just wrong. He’s just completely wrong,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“Look, we definitely took this very seriously. We have addressed this specific issue from every possible angle, including through intensive diplomacy with countries around the world, and of course through direct discussions with Russia,” Kirby said.
Kirby and other administration officials noted that the U.S. proposed a resolution to the U.N. Security Council in April aimed at preventing an arms race in space. Russia vetoed the resolution.
“We have worked hard to get other countries to join us in communicating the dangers of an anti-satellite weapon designed to carry a nuclear weapon,” Kirby said.
He added that it would have been better to keep intelligence about the Russian project secret to allow for private diplomacy, but Turner’s statement in February ultimately led to information about the program coming out.
“As we said at the time, in February, when this was made public, publishing this highly sensitive intelligence was highly irresponsible, and it was something that the intelligence community itself had serious concerns about,” Kirby said. “And we concluded that initiating a private engagement rather than immediately publishing the intelligence would have been a much more effective approach.”
He added: “We will continue our efforts to stop Russia from putting a nuclear weapon into orbit. We will do everything we can to prevent that outcome.”
In May, a senior Defense Department official confirmed to lawmakers that Russia is developing an “indiscriminate” anti-satellite nuclear device that would threaten all satellites operated by countries and companies around the world.
Before resigning as assistant secretary of defense for space policy, John Plumb told a House Armed Services subcommittee that the threat was “not imminent” but that the Pentagon and the “entire” Biden administration were concerned about the program .
Asked about the potential impact of such a weapon, Plumb said low Earth orbit – the most common orbit for satellites – could be rendered unusable for up to a year by radiation from a nuclear blast.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
