Russia’s ‘Space-Based Weapon’ Raises Fresh Fears About an Old Threat
The White House on Thursday confirmed reports that Russia is pursuing an “anti-satellite capability” that poses a serious national security concern but is not an immediate threat to Americans' safety.
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00:00 I know that Chairman Turner's letter to House members and his subsequent post on social
00:05 media about a national security threat has prompted a lot of questions.
00:09 While I am limited by how much I can share about the specific nature of the threat, I
00:15 can confirm that it is related to an anti-satellite capability that Russia is developing.
00:20 I want to be clear about a couple of things right off the bat.
00:24 First, this is not an active capability that's been deployed.
00:29 And though Russia's pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate
00:33 threat to anyone's safety.
00:35 We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical
00:40 destruction here on Earth.
00:42 That said, we've been closely monitoring this Russian activity and we will continue to take
00:47 it very seriously.
00:48 President Biden has been kept fully informed and regularly informed by his national security
00:53 team, including today.
00:55 He has directed a series of initial actions, including additional briefings to congressional
00:59 leaders, direct diplomatic engagement with Russia, with our allies and our partners as
01:04 well, and with other countries around the world who have interests at stake.
01:08 The intelligence community has serious concerns about a broad declassification of this intelligence.
01:16 They also assess that starting with private engagement rather than immediately publicizing
01:21 the intelligence could be a much more effective approach.
01:25 We agree with that, which is consistent, of course, with the manner in which we have conducted
01:28 downgrades of information in the past.
01:31 This administration has put a lot of focus on doing that in a strategic way, a deliberate
01:36 way, and in particular when it comes to Russia.
01:39 I would tell you that this is still a development – I'm sorry, it's still a capability
01:43 they're developing.
01:44 We are still analyzing the information that's available to that.
01:48 I would not speak definitively about our strategic deterrent capabilities one way or the other.
01:55 We just don't – we don't talk about that publicly.
01:57 But we're taking this potential threat very, very seriously, and we are examining what
02:01 the best next steps are and what our options might be.
02:04 I want to reiterate it is not an active capability and it has not yet been deployed.
02:10 We will engage directly.
02:12 We plan to engage directly with the Russians about this, and – as well as allies and
02:17 partners.
02:18 And as I said, we'll continue to work through what our next steps and our approaches might
02:22 be.
02:23 I don't want to minimize the potential here for disruption should there be an anti-satellite
02:30 capability of any significance.
02:32 It could affect services here on Earth.
02:36 There's no question about that.
02:37 That's why we are taking this so seriously.
02:39 Look, it's – we certainly – we're not in a position where we're trusting what's
02:43 coming out of Russia.
02:45 What they say, we watch what they do.
02:48 And we analyze what they do, and then we make our own decisions, our own policy decisions
02:52 about what we're going to do based on their actions or their inactions.