USA / The White House has confirmed that Russia is developing anti-satellite weapons

The White House confirmed Thursday that the threat to national security is related to an “anti-satellite weapon developed by Russia”but tried to allay concerns.

“It’s not about one active ability that has been deployed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday. “And while Russia’s pursuit is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety».

«We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause natural disaster here on Earth,” he added, according to CNN. Kirby’s comments came a day after the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Rep. Mike Turner, ignited fires on Capitol Hill when he issued a statement announcing that the committee had “information about a serious national security threat.”

The lack of immediate details about the nature of the threat left many to fill in the blanks, regarding the severity and imminent threat. Turner has faced intense criticism, even from members of his own party, for releasing the information the commission has, the American media still reports.

Kirby said, among other things, that the US is still in the process of reaching out to Russia for talks on Moscow’s anti-satellite capabilities. “We’ll have to see” whether public disclosure of the threat could make those talks more difficult, he said.

While Kirby said Russian capabilities do not pose a threat to human life, one anti-satellite weapon placed in Earth orbit would pose a significant risk to US nuclear command and control satellites, Hans Christensen, director of the Nuclear Intelligence Program at the Federation of Americans scientists, he told CNN on Wednesday. The US relies on such satellites – which it called “core” – to ensure stable, unfettered control of its nuclear arsenal.

Russia is engaged in space systems designed to neutralize the US military and commercial space systems for years, according to a 2022 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report on space security. Russian doctrine called for being able to target an enemy’s satellites from the ground, air, cyber and space, using attacks ranging from temporary jamming to total destruction.