Serious Nation Security Threat?

[Dotini]

Reportedly, Congressmen privy to this have been left shaken.

CNN —
House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner has made intelligence around a “serious national security threat” available to all members of Congress to review. Two sources familiar with the matter and a US official tell CNN the threat is related to Russia.

Multiple sources familiar with the intelligence characterized the intelligence as “very sensitive.”

Earlier Wednesday, Turner sent his Congressional colleagues a letter saying the urgent matter is “with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability.”

One of the sources who has seen the intelligence confirmed that “it is, in fact, a highly concerning and destabilizing” Russian capability “that we were recently made aware of.”

Turner said in the dear colleagues letter that the House Intelligence Committee voted on February 13 to make certain information available for lawmakers to review and says members have time to view this between Wednesday and Friday.

Turner is also calling on President Joe Biden to declassify “all information relating to this threat.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he had personally reached out to set a meeting with top lawmakers on national security committees before Turner warned publicly of what he termed the “serious national security threat.”

“I reached out earlier this week to the Gang of Eight to offer myself for up for a personal briefing to the Gang of Eight and, in fact, we scheduled a briefing for the for House members of the Gang of Eight tomorrow,” Sullivan said from the White House. “That’s been on the books. So I am a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out publicly today in advance of a meeting on the books for me to go sit with him alongside our intelligence and defense professionals tomorrow.”

Sullivan said he remained focused on sitting down with Turner on Thursday for the meeting.

He declined to elaborate on the nature of the threat.

“I’m not in a position to say anything further from this podium at this time,” he said.

He emphasized the Biden administration has “gone further and in more creative, more strategic ways, dealt with the declassification of intelligence in the national interest of the United States than any administration in history.”

“So you definitely are not going to find an unwillingness to do that when it’s in our national security interest to do so,” he said

This story is breaking and will be updated.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/14/poli...n-serious-national-security-threat/index.html

 

[Dotini]

Snippet from NBC:

A Democratic source familiar with the threat told NBC News: "This is a serious issue that could lead to a destabilizing situation and a national security threat."

The source described it as a “potential foreign threat” but would not identify where the threat is coming from.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, said that there's no reason to panic.

“People should not panic — that is unequivocal. People should not panic,” Himes said.

Turner “is right to highlight this issue, but it’s so sensitive that he is right now not publicly discussing it,” Himes told reporters. “And I don’t want people thinking that martians are landing

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/na...onal-security-threat-ahead-planned-rcna138848

1st video:




Fox News speculation centers on long-rumored Russian land and space based anti-satellite weapons. Maybe they are operational and entering the battlefield?

 

[Hobie1dog]

Reportedly, Congressmen privy to this have been left shaken.

CNN —
House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner has made intelligence around a “serious national security threat” available to all members of Congress to review.
Turner said in the dear colleagues letter that the House Intelligence Committee voted on February 13 to make certain information available for lawmakers to review and says members have time to view this between Wednesday and Friday.

Turner is also calling on President Joe Biden to declassify “all information relating to this threat.”

so if there's something that is a national security threat, why declassify all the information? i'm lost.

 

[Dotini]

so if there's something that is a national security threat, why declassify all the information? i'm lost.

Obviously I don't know, but:
1) It's top secret.
2) Politicians, some, but crucially not all, are overtly concerned about public panic.
3) It seems some Congressmen - maybe yours -may not be cleared to know about it.
4) If our satellites over Eastern Europe and the Middle East are blinded, that's not going to help us all. We may all be at the brink of war with Russia?

 

[Banzai88]

so if there's something that is a national security threat, why declassify all the information? i'm lost.

Because we don't (yet) live in a Stalinist/Maoist state, and because the de facto default in America is that the public has the RIGHT to know most of what we're taxed for and what is said and done in our name and with our dollars.

ESPECIALLY if it's a matter affecting the safety and security of the nation as a whole.

Usually raw, and most collated intelligence data is initially highly classified UNTIL it's disseminated and understood amongst those in government and certain decisions are made. From there, most of what's declassified and released is highly redacted to protect sources and collection methods.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Because we don't (yet) live in a Stalinist/Maoist state, and because the de facto default in America is that the public has the RIGHT to know most of what we're taxed for and what is said and done in our name and with our dollars.

ESPECIALLY if it's a matter affecting the safety and security of the nation as a whole.

Usually raw, and most collated intelligence data is initially highly classified UNTIL it's disseminated and understood amongst those in government and certain decisions are made. From there, most of what's declassified and released is highly redacted to protect sources and collection methods.

What seems a bit odd is for Turner calling for declassification of everything before he’s even been briefed on it. His briefing, along with the other members of the “gang of eight”, is tomorrow. After that, if the information is safe to declassify, then I would definitely like to know what it is.

 

[cerving]

Umm... if it's Top Secret and they don't want to public to panic, why are they saying anything at all?

FYI, the news media have been fed and reported on specious stories before... this one sounds a bit fishy.

 

[Dotini]

What seems a bit odd is for Turner calling for declassification of everything before he’s even been briefed on it. His briefing, along with the other members of the “gang of eight”, is tomorrow. After that, if the information is safe to declassify, then I would definitely like to know what it is.

Reportedly, Turner has been deeply involved in the anti-satellite issues for several years in the past - so he is already up to speed.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

If some of this info is being made available to all members of Congress between today and tomorrow, then the public will know most of it in a day or two.

 

[Dotini]

If some of this info is being made available to all members of Congress between today and tomorrow, then the public will know most if it in a day or two.

They are reported to be shuffling into and out of the SCIF. I'm not sure all members have clearance. But clearly Turner thinks the matter is serious enough to be made public at this time.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Reportedly, Turner has been deeply involved in the anti-satellite issues for several years in the past - so he is already up to speed.

Isn’t the idea that this is related to anti-satellite capabilities speculation at this point? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Anyway, whatever it is, according to the article you posted, Turner and the gang of eight get their briefing tomorrow.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I hope this has to do with Taylor Swift.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

My guess is that this push to release the info has something to do with domestic politics. That doesn’t mean partisan politics, necessarily. Right now, one of the most contentious domestic political issues is related to the bill for Ukraine aid (and Israel, Gaza, Taiwan aid), and the Republican conference is split on that. I don’t know much about Turner, but if he is pro-Ukraine, this might have something to do with showing Russia to be a threat and generating support to oppose Russia in Ukraine by taking up the aid bill. So that’s 100% speculation on my part, and I could be completely wrong.

 

[Rob Campbell]

I hope this has to do with Taylor Swift.

Russia plans to abduct her and threaten to return her if we don't do as they say.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I don't like the concept of that "gang of eight"...and "the public should not panic". That's like forecasting 2 ft of snow and everybody goes out and buys all the bread and milk within 100 miles. Somebody will later comment that this will be the apocalypse and every grocery store will be completely emptied out in a week

 

[techrat]

Typical.... Congressmen panicking, shouting at the tops of their lungs "DON'T PANIC", while running in circles, waving their hands in the air.....

 

[techrat]

I for one, welcome our new alien overlords....

 

[cls]

I bet $2 that it's the Russian "hypersonic" missile that apparently hit Kiev yesterday.

 

[smstachwick]

ABC is reporting that the threat is the Russians placing nuclear weapons in space.

 

[techrat]

ABC is reporting that the threat is the Russians placing nuclear weapons in space.

That would be cool. Arms race in space would get NASA a much bigger budget since "Space Force" doesn't have their own launch systems -- although I guess they could contract with ULA just as easily as anybody else.

 

[Dotini]

NBC news is now seemingly linking the narrative to Ukraine. Apparently there are some problems that may be getting out of hand, particularly with respect to weapons and money.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/na...onal-security-threat-ahead-planned-rcna138848

Snippets:

Four sources with knowledge of the issue told NBC News that the threat is a Russian military capability.

Turner recently returned from a congressional delegation trip to Ukraine and said Friday that lawmakers “all have access to the intelligence as to the risk that is faced not only to the United States, our allies, but the world as a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

 

[smstachwick]

That would be cool. Arms race in space would get NASA a much bigger budget since "Space Force" doesn't have their own launch systems -- although I guess they could contract with ULA just as easily as anybody else.

No, absolutely not cool. The militarization of space is something the superpowers have actively sought to avoid. The Outer Space treaty specifically forbids stationing nuclear weapons in space.

We have no need for Kessler Syndrome or anything else that would make space access more difficult.

 

[Hobie1dog]

ABC is reporting that the threat is the Russians placing nuclear weapons in space.

Russians- first in putting a man in space, now going to be first in putting a nuclear war head in space

 

[techrat]

The militarization of space is something the superpowers have actively sought to avoid.

Except that China doesn't care. Once the Chinese reach the moon and put a base there, all bets are off. We're going to have an arms race coming down the line, whether you or I are here to see it doesn't matter. It's coming.

 

[Dotini]

Russians- first in putting a man in space, now going to be first in putting a nuclear war head in space

Reportedly, the US has exploded 5 nuclear bombs in high altitude tests.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime

Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 900 miles (1,450 km) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights,[1]: 5  setting off numerous burglar alarms, and damaging a telephone company microwave link.[6] The EMP damage to the microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.[7]

The flash created by the explosion as seen through heavy cloud cover from Honolulu, 900 miles (1,450 km) away

 

[Hobie1dog]

Reportedly, the US has exploded 5 nuclear bombs in outer space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime

Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 900 miles (1,450 km) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights,[1]: 5  setting off numerous burglar alarms, and damaging a telephone company microwave link.[6] The EMP damage to the microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.[7]

The flash created by the explosion as seen through heavy cloud cover from Honolulu, 900 miles (1,450 km) away

so we are in the day and age of an EMP as depicted in the novel "One Second After"

 

[2-0turbo]

so we are in the day and age of an EMP as depicted in the novel "One Second After"

Great book series. I really enjoyed them.

 

[Dotini]

so we are in the day and age of an EMP as depicted in the novel "One Second After"

The Starfish Prime test was in 1962, and the Carrington Event in 1859. So the EMP problem has been known for a long time.

 

[jderimig]

My money is that it is a big nothing-burger.

Remember, it's an election year—time for the federal government to amplify fear. (See my sig line....)

 

[techrat]

So, the news media is speculating that it's about nukes in space. Or that's what has been leaked. But if they have evidence, that hasn't been made apparent yet. When is the State of the Union? Should be soon, maybe we'll find out then.