White House, congressional leaders set to discuss 'serious national security threat'

Feb. 14 (UPI) -- House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on Wednesday requested President Joe Biden declassify information regarding what the lawmaker said was a serious threat to national security that is related to Russia.

Citing unnamed sources, ABC News, Politico, and NBC News reported the threat possibly is a nuclear device of some kind that could be launched into orbit by Russia and used to knock out satellite systems used by Western nations for communications and national defense.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 bans such activity by the United States and Russia.

"I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the administration and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat," Turner wrote in a brief statement made available to media.

Turner also said the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence made "information concerning a serious national security threat" available to all members of Congress.

The statement comes after Turner on Tuesday sent letters to congressional colleagues saying the House Intelligence Committee voted to provide all members of Congress with information regarding an "urgent matter with regard to destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known by all congressional policy makers."

The information shared with members of Congress "is, in fact, a highly concerning and destabilizing" capability by Russia that "we were recently made aware of," CNN reported a source saying.

President Biden's administration earlier in the week had scheduled a meeting Thursday with eight congressional leaders to discuss the matter, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Wednesday.

He said Turner is among those invited to attend the scheduled meeting, but he refused to elaborate further on the meeting or its subject matter.

Russian officials in recent years suggested targeting commercial satellite systems, such as the SpaceX Starlink, would be a legitimate form of military retaliation, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies.