Rep. Mike Turner told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Saturday that he the alarm sounded to House colleagues about Russia’s plan to put nuclear weapons in space, fearing the Biden administration is “sleepwalking into an international crisis.”
“We must make sure that we prevent an international crisis,” he said.
These statements of his followed him statement on Wednesday To make public that the House Intelligence Committee “has made available to all members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat.”
NBC News later confirmed that the intelligence was linked to Russia developing a space-based nuclear program to attack satellites.
“What I’m calling for is for the administration to declassify it, and my concern is that it kind of looks like that. Chinese spy balloon and the administration is kind of hiding, you know, some inaction,” Turner said Saturday.
His statement and a subsequent disclosure about the nature of the classified intelligence information caused an uproar in Washington on Wednesday, as some members of Congress sought to allay concerns about any future threat from Russia.
Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said, “People should not panic.” said on Wednesday.
But Turner stressed on Saturday that he believes Russia poses a “very serious threat”.
“Everybody who looks at it uses the same language as me — it’s a very serious threat,” Turner said on “Meet the Press” on Saturday, adding that the administration is now “starting to take action.”
we met with [national security adviser] Jake Sullivan and he’s started putting together a plan that will hopefully begin to address that,” Turner added on “Meet the Press” from Germany, where he is attending the Munich Security Conference.
Sullivan spoke publicly about the issue at a White House briefing on Wednesday, saying he was already “offering myself for a private briefing” to brief the bipartisan Group of Eight, which includes top leaders of the House and Senate.
“It’s been on the books, so I’m a little surprised that Congressman Turner went public today before the meeting on the books,” Sullivan said Wednesday.