House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who has been pushing the Biden administration to declassify information on Russia’s nuclear anti-satellite program, is planning an address Thursday warning that the situation could become catastrophic if information about the looming threat is not addressed soon.
Turner, who will speak Thursday morning at an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, plans to warn about the potential of a doomsday scenario, according to Politico, which obtained a copy of his remarks.
“This threat would mean that our economic, international security and social systems come to a grinding halt,” Turner plans to say. “This would be a catastrophic and devastating attack upon Western economic, and democratic systems. Vladimir Putin knows this — checkmate.”
According to the congressman, if Russia detonates a nuclear weapon within low Earth orbit, that would destroy satellites used for much of modern society, including stopping global communications for at least a year, including for cellphones, GPS, and more.
Turner, meanwhile, says that the lack of information coming from the Biden administration about the danger is worrisome.
“Putin thrives in secrecy,” Turner is planning to say.
He told Politico, while previewing his speech, that the Biden administration is “not taking this as seriously as it should.”
CSIS said its event will feature a discussion on the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. foreign policy and strategy, including the strategic landscape, nuclear modernization, deterrence efforts, and arms control, including how the intelligence community is postured to address such challenges.
Turner issued similar warnings earlier this year, saying that he warned his colleagues of a “serious national security threat” with Russian anti-satellite capabilities and saying he was concerned that the Biden administration was “sleepwalking into an international crisis.”
The intelligence committee in February informed all members of Congress about an unspecified “serious national security threat,” with White House national security communications adviser John Kirby confirming the threat was related to a Russian anti-satellite capability.
