The White House acknowledged that it is monitoring a new Russian anti-satellite weapon that is under development but not yet deployed, calling it a “troubling issue” but not an immediate threat to anyone's safety.
National Security Spokesman John Kirby did not directly confirm or deny reports that Russia's new weapon was a nuclear weapon, but said it was “space-based” and that it was a nuclear weapon that was banned in 1967. It was said to be a violation of the 2017 Outer Space Treaty. Use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.
Kirby was meeting reporters at the White House amid speculation following cryptic comments from House Intelligence Committee Republican Chairman Mike Turner about new threats.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan cleared security Thursday afternoon after Sullivan and other U.S. officials expressed surprise at Turner's decision to go public with national security matters. He was scheduled to meet with Congressional leaders from both parties to discuss the threat. Confidential briefing.
“There are limits to how much I can share about the specific nature of the threat. I can confirm that it is related to anti-satellite capabilities that Russia is developing,” Kirby said. “While this is not an actual fielded capability and it is concerning that Russia is pursuing this particular capability, there is no imminent threat to anyone's safety. We are not talking about weapons that can be used to attack or cause physical destruction. That being said, we are closely monitoring this Russian activity and will continue to take it very seriously. is.”
He added that the weapons believed to be in development “are space-based and would violate the Outer Space Treaty, which is signed by more than 130 countries.”
The existence of a new national security threat was announced by Turner on Wednesday in clear violation of confidentiality clauses under which the Group of Eight was briefed by members of the administration. Sullivan expressed surprise Thursday at Turner's decision to publicly ask for the matter to be declassified.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Albania on Thursday, said: “This is not an active capability, but it is a potential capability that we take very seriously and we expect to have more to say.” I'm doing it,” he said. It's almost here. Please stay tuned for that. ”
Blinken added that the Biden administration is “also consulting with our allies and partners on this issue.”
“President Biden's focus is on the security of America and its people, and that is foremost in his mind as he addresses this and all other issues.”
Before the Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967, the United States conducted a series of high-altitude nuclear tests, the largest of which was Starfish Prime in July 1962, which illuminated much of the sky over the Pacific Ocean and caused an electromagnetic pulse. It was much larger than expected and created a radiation belt around the Earth, causing satellites in its path to malfunction.
Starfish Prime showed that a nuclear explosion in space could have an indiscriminate effect on all satellites in orbit, paving the way for nuclear powers to sign the Outer Space Treaty five years later.
John Logsdon, founder of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said that if Russia intends to launch an anti-satellite nuclear attack weapon, it would mean that Russia has “developed a more technologically sophisticated system. “This could mean that its effectiveness is limited in some way.”
On the other hand, launching nuclear-powered spacecraft designed to jam other satellites would mean a return to the Soviet past, when Moscow launched several such spacecraft, Rogdon said.
In 1978, the Soviet nuclear-powered satellite Kosmos 954 malfunctioned and crashed in northern Canada, scattering radioactive debris hundreds of miles.
Russia has been working intensively on conventional anti-satellite technology for the past 14 years, think tank Secure World Foundation reported last year in a report on global counter-space capabilities.
“There is strong evidence that Russia has embarked on a series of programs since 2010 to regain many of its Cold War-era counterspace capabilities,” the report said. The report added that much of Russia's activity focused on surveillance, but noted that Russia had deployed two “quasi-satellites” at high speed, and noted that some of Russia's activities were “weapons It added that he suggested that it was of the nature of
The transition to nuclear-powered “killer” satellites is not illegal, Logsdon argued, and will not change the balance of power in the continued militarization of space.
“That's not true,” he said. “This is just another way the spacecraft can get power, whether it's through solar panels or other means of power generation or a nuclear reactor.”