Washington, Feb 16 (PTI) Russia developing anti-satellite nuke capability is “troubling”, but not a threat to anyone’s safety as it has not been deployed yet, the White House said.
“This is not an active capability that’s been deployed. And though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House told reporters at a news conference here.
“We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth. That said, we’ve been closely monitoring this Russian activity and we will continue to take it very seriously,” he said.
Kirby said US President Joe Biden has been kept fully informed and regularly informed by his national security team.
“He has directed a series of initial actions, including additional briefings to Congressional leaders, direct diplomatic engagement with Russia, with our allies and our partners as well, and with other countries around the world who have interests at stake,” Kirby said responding to a volley of questions.
A day earlier, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner urged the Biden administration to make details of that threat public.
“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,” he said.
Responding to questions, Kirby said America’s general knowledge of Russian pursuit of this kind of capability goes back many, many months if not a few years.
“But only in recent weeks has the intelligence community been able to assess with a higher sense of confidence exactly how Russia continues to pursue it. The president has been briefed on this developing capability really from the outset and has been kept informed throughout including today from his national security team,” he said.
“It is an anti-satellite capability that they’re developing,” Kirby said, adding that the president directed the team to start to inform allies and partners, not that Russia is an ally and partner, but to include diplomatic engagement with Russia on this.
“Then we would eventually get to a point where we would downgrade and declassify. So, we were already sort of the arc of that process when yesterday this information regrettably found its way into the public domain in advance of our ability to do this according to process,” he said.
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, in a joint statement, said they had been rigorously tracking this issue from the start.
“We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing an appropriate response with the administration. In the meantime, we must be cautious about potentially disclosing sources and methods that may be key to preserving a range of options for US action,” they said.
Kirby told reporters that at this point, they don’t believe is active and not deployed.
“We will engage directly. We plan to engage directly with the Russians about this, as well as allies and partners. And as I said, we’ll continue to work through what our next steps and our approaches might be. I don’t want to minimise the potential here for disruption,” he said.
“Should there be an anti-satellite capability of any significance, it could affect services here on Earth. There’s no question about that. That’s why we are taking this so seriously,” Kirby said. PTI LKJ RHL
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