House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee has
by Barrister (2024-02-14 12:41:55)
Edited on 2024-02-14 12:46:12
Cannot Reply Return to Political

issued some concerning statements today, indicating it has invited all House members to view some information about a "serious national security threat" and it has urged the President to declassify the information so it can be made public.

News orgs are reporting their sources say it's some kind of previously unknown and "destabilizing" Russian capability.

I wonder if Putin gave something of strategic value to Iran...

Hunter Biden has a second laptop.
by BigBadBrewer  (2024-02-14 20:32:16)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

And a smart phone.
Hmmm...smells like a Russian intel op to me *
by ndsapper  (2024-02-15 10:00:41)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

apparantly tied to space and nuclear weapons
by DBCooper  (2024-02-14 14:05:54)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

specifically, Russia wanting nuclear weapons in space

Specifically nuclear anti-sat weapons
by fontoknow  (2024-02-14 17:02:15)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

They want to place into orbit nuclear armed killer satellites.

Wouldn’t the Jewish space lasers take them out? They worked
by arasera  (2024-02-14 16:19:56)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

well in that trail run that set the wildfires in California.
Lasers. Sharks.
by IrishintheD  (2024-02-14 23:17:29)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Laser sharks!!!
Would mutated ill tempered Sea Bass be acceptable? * *
by vermin05  (2024-02-15 10:46:36)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

You'd think the Russkies would wait until after the election
by Barrister  (2024-02-14 15:27:38)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

to see if Donny would let them "do whatever the hell they want."

ETA: Nukes in space could be very bad for global communications and other satellite-dependent operations.

A nuke test by the US in the 1960s (Starfish Prime) damaged electrical systems in Hawaii, some 900 miles away, and radiation belts caused by the detonation damaged satellites even months later.
And there has been a lot of work done since then.
by Barney68  (2024-02-15 09:56:07)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

I've never seen any classified information on this, so all of the following is unclassified or speculation.

A huge chunk of our space capability is in Low Earth Orbit. More is arriving every day, e.g., Starlink. A lot of military capability is there as well. And there are plans for much, much more (link).

Those birds are designed for the radiation environment that exists now inside the Van Allen Radiation Belts. Should one create a nuclear explosion, especially one with tailored subatomic particle production, the resulting environment could "age out" lots of those birds within very short timelines. Deploying an armed vehicle in LEO would destabilize things because we are highly dependent on those satellites and the Russians far less so.

They do not have to actually launch a satellite or pop a nuke. Simply changing the rules so that one is ready and able to do so on a very short timeline, say hours to days, is enough. Responding to that threat takes much, much longer.

There was a proposed mission some years ago, and I can't remember much about it, that had some kind of a chemical in canisters that would be fired off, conventional explosive or rocket, to put the chemical all over the LEO space. The idea was that this chemical, boron, maybe?, would absorb the subatomic particles and mitigate the effects of someone popping a nuke, at least for the LEO environment. It got cancelled early, I don't remember why.

This ought to get the conspiracy theory machine working
by IAND75  (2024-02-14 13:36:18)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

overtime.

They will need to inform the public soon in at least some detail. Otherwise, the rumor mill will have the Russians imminently launching a Death Star.
A good scare tactic to get all the money to Ukraine
by Nyirish08  (2024-02-14 13:19:33)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Republicans will counter that the threat may come across the mexican border
I think they have already come over the border and...
by Fresno MIke  (2024-02-14 19:11:47)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

...it is just a matter of time.

If it gets that idiot Johnson to schedule a vote on
by sprack  (2024-02-14 12:59:06)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

aid to Ukraine, I'm all for it.
When I read "serious national security threat",
by BeijingIrish  (2024-02-14 12:53:54)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

my first thought is "first strike capability". I'm all for destabilizing them.
News in last 48 hrs of 1st Russian hypersonic missile strike
by shawno3  (2024-02-14 15:27:31)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

…in Ukraine. Could just be a coincidence but proof of concept of a Mach 9 hypersonic missile capability that was originally developed for sea-based launch could be the type of destabilizing first strike capability you mention. If it can be successfully launched from subs with a range of 625 miles (as reported in the linked article), a lot of U.S. cities and other targets could be in the crosshairs.
When I refer to first strike, I refer to us.
by BeijingIrish  (2024-02-14 16:36:52)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Why wait, why take the risk? That’s why we have them. To use them.
Whoops. *
by shawno3  (2024-02-14 16:49:38)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Here's CNN's article on it, which includes:
by Barrister  (2024-02-14 12:58:55)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

"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.'"
Something about the Super Bowl and some guy Taylor Swift *
by ufl  (2024-02-14 12:50:02)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

If it's something about which they want to inform....
by Marine Domer  (2024-02-14 12:48:07)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

all Americans, I'm wondering if it is a cyber technology.

Could be. Apparently the Gang of 8 will be briefed by
by Barrister  (2024-02-14 12:51:05)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

the White House tomorrow.

Doesn't sound like a "has to be dealt with today" thing.