The U.S. has gathered highly sensitive intelligence about Russian anti-satellite weapons that has been shared in recent weeks with the upper echelons of government. That’s according to four people who have been briefed on the intelligence but were not authorized to comment publicly.
They said the capability was not yet operational. The intelligence sparked an urgent but vague warning Wednesday from the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, who urged the Biden administration to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat.
On Thursday, members of the U.S. House of Representatives weighed in on the Russian anti-satellite weapons and Rep. Mike Turner’s decision to raise the alarm about the situation.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D) California, said she does not criticize Turner for making the decision to raise the alarm.
“Well he’s the chairman of the intelligence committee and I respect his judgment. And we’re going now to Munich and so we’ll be discussing it further there. But I don’t criticize him, no,” Pelosi said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D) Maryland, said he wouldn’t have done what Turner did.
“I certainly would not have done it like that. But in any event, we are where we are at this point. And, it’s very troubling that you’ve got Vladimir Putin now, you know, not only marching into Ukraine and smashing up the democracy there and destabilizing elections around the world, but actually putting nuclear technology into space in order to knock out satellites. So I think that’s a very troubling thing,” Raskin said.
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was vague about the contents of the information, but shared Turner’s alarm.
“Listen, we’re not going to talk about anything on the Intelligence Committee. The members are getting briefed in there, and we can’t comment any further. He was absolutely right. Absolutely right. And every single one of you, as American citizens ought to be thankful that he made the decision that he did,” Fitzpatrick told the press.