(Washington) What “grave threat” poses to the security of the United States? Is this really a Russian project for an anti-satellite space nuclear weapon? A White House official is going to Congress on Thursday to enlighten elected officials on this mysterious and worrying matter.
It all started with the publication on Wednesday of a cryptic statement from the head of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, inviting his peers in Congress to review “information relating to a serious threat to national security” .
No details on the nature of the threat or its imminence. Just a few lines, published on social networks, urging President Biden to “declassify all information” on the subject.
The message spread like wildfire and fueled all the speculation. And for good reason, it is very rare for the intelligence community to communicate publicly on its current files, unless there is a direct risk to the general public.
In a delicate balancing act – elected representatives of Congress do not have the right to disclose the classified information to which they have access – Republican leader Mike Johnson declares in an attempt to put an end to the panic, “that there is no there is no cause for alarm.”
” Unfounded ”
Asked by AFP, a source close to the matter indicates that the said threat is “serious” but not “urgent”. Citing unidentified sources, several American media outlets speak of “extremely worrying” Russian military capabilities.
ABC News first reported that Russia plans to place a nuclear weapon in space against satellites.
Asked for this information on Wednesday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan showed himself annoyed that Michael Turner had decided to raise the subject publicly.
“It’s his choice,” he said on Wednesday. “All I can tell you is that I’m going to see him, talk to him” on Thursday.
The senior official will be in Congress early this afternoon to give a briefing to a group of eight elected representatives of Congress with access to the most sensitive American intelligence.
Moscow for its part described this information as “malicious” and “baseless”, seeing it as a maneuver by the American executive to force through an envelope on Ukraine, blocked for months in Congress.
” It is obvious. So let’s see what tricks, so to speak, the White House will pull on us,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The Senate, with a Democratic majority, approved new aid of $60 billion for Kyiv, but the Republican leader of the House refuses any vote on the project.