House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner demanded Wednesday that President Biden go public about a “serious” national security threat, issuing a cryptic warning that caught the White House off guard.
Mr. Turner said the committee is making information about the unspecified threat available to all members of Congress, and called on the president to open up about it.
“I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat,” said Mr. Turner, Ohio Republican.
His move appeared to catch White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan flat-footed. Speaking at the daily White House press briefing, Mr. Sullivan said he had not expected Mr. Turner to go public ahead of a closed meeting they have scheduled for Thursday.
“I’m a bit surprised Congressman Turner came out publicly today in advance of a meeting on the books to sit with him alongside our defense and intelligence professionals,” he said.
Mr. Sullivan told reporters that he had reached out to the so-called Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of high ranking Senators and House members who can be briefed on sensitive intelligence matters.
But Mr. Sullivan raised some eyebrows, saying a meeting between the White House national security adviser and the Gang of Eight is “highly unusual.”
Mr. Sullivan also said couldn’t say anything about the alleged threat, and declined to say if the public should be alarmed. Instead, he suggested that the administration is working to keep Americans safe.
“I can’t say anything further,” he said.
CNN, citing two anonymous sources, said the threat pertains to Russia.
The top two lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Chairman Mark Warner of Virginia and Republican Vice Chairman Marco Rubio of Florida, said their committee also “has the intelligence in question, and has been rigorously tracking this issue from the start.”
“We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing an appropriate response with the administration,” they said in a joint statement. “In the meantime, we must be cautious about potentially disclosing sources and methods that may be key to preserving a range of options for U.S. action.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson reporters at a hastily called press conference Wednesday that there was “no need for public alarm.” He said the issue was spurred by a letter the speaker sent a month ago to Mr. Biden regarding the threat.
The speaker said he plans to press the Biden administration to take “appropriate action,” but urged that the public shouldn’t be alarmed by the classified threat.
“We just want to assure everyone [that] steady hands are at the wheel, we’re working on it and there’s no need for alarm,” Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Sullivan defended the administration from allegations that it was withholding critical information from the American people.
“This administration has gone further and in more creative, more strategic ways dealt with the declassification of intelligence in the national interest of the United States than any administration in history. You are definitely are not going to find an unwillingness to do that when it’s in our national security interest to do so,” he said.
Mr. Turner‘s warning came days after he visited Kyiv as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation to war-torn Ukraine. A strong supporter of more U.S. aid to Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders, he was among the lawmakers who gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assurances that they would do their part to get military aid legislation through the House.
Late Tuesday, Mr. Turner sent a letter to his congressional colleagues noting the Intelligence Committee voted to make available information about “an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known by all congressional policy makers.”
Lawmakers were invited to review the information in the committee’s space to handle sensitive compartmented information.
— Alex Miller contributed to this report.