The US intelligence community considers the creation in Russia of capabilities capable of destroying satellites in low-Earth orbit a threat to national security.
On Thursday, On February 15, the White House confirmed that the threat to national security that Republican Congressman Mike Turner had spoken of the day before was related to “anti-satellite capabilities that Russia is developing.”
This was stated by US National Security Council Speaker John Kirby, quoted by CNN.
At the same time, the White House representative tried to reassure that Russian weapons in space would not be aimed at the United States or the Earth as a whole.
“Russia's moves to develop this particular capability are concerning, but there is no immediate threat to anyone's security. We are not talking about weapons that can be used to attack people or physically destroy the Earth,” Kirby said.
According to him, the United States intends to “deal directly with the Russians.” , but have not yet made contact.
“I don't want to diminish the potential of the threat. It could affect [communications] services on Earth, there is no doubt about that. Any anti-satellite capability should be a general concern,” Kirby added, noting that private and government satellites orbiting the Earth are important for communications, command and control, transportation, financial and commercial matters.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council stressed that the US intelligence community has “serious concerns” about the widespread declassification of information related to the threat. He added that a “much more effective approach” would be to not release all the information.
The United States has been aware of Russia's attempts to develop anti-satellite capabilities for “many months, if not years,” he said, but only in recent weeks has it been able to “more clearly assess how Russia is trying to develop this capability “.
Recall that on Wednesday, February 14, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Turner, published a cryptic statement in which he announced “a serious threat to national security.” The lack of details about the nature of the threat has led to much speculation. Some publications reported that the information concerns the Russians' desire to place nuclear weapons in space
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