A Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee said on Sunday the space weapon that Russia is trying to develop could “blind” the U.S. economy and military.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” about the potential impacts of the threat that engulfed much of Washington in the past week.
“If this weapon is allowed to fully deploy, it could completely blind our economy. It would take out our GPS,” Waltz said. “It could blind our military. It is incredibly serious. It’s a weapon of mass destruction, not just us — countries all over the world.”
The issue came to light in the past week when House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) released a statement calling on the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about a “destabilizing” military capability from a hostile foreign power.
In the ensuing days, the White House conceded Russia had been working on an anti-satellite capability but stressed that it had not been deployed. And Turner has faced blowback for going public after the panel made some details available to all House members.
Waltz said Turner was “very frustrated after sending multiple classified letters to the administration asking, ‘What are you going to do to stop this threat, to deal with this threat?'”
He said, “And it won’t surprise you: we got radio silence. So the committee voted unanimously, Republican and Democrat, to say, you know what, all members need to be aware. This threat is so serious, so grave, all members need to be aware.”
Waltz conceded a “kind of blow up” but emphasized that it is being taken seriously as the “director of national intelligence and the national security adviser were on the Hill the next day giving us a strategy and telling us what they’re going to do about it.”
The “fear,” Waltz added, is that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has calculated we are far more dependent on space than he is, so that perhaps this would be at his advantage or that he could use it as a serious deterrence to keep us from doing what we need to do.”
Bartiromo pointed out that some of Turner’s critics have suggested the chairman was angling to gin up support for more aid to Ukraine, which has stalled in Congress. Waltz dismissed the idea that Ukraine funds or FISA surveillance reauthorization were motivating factors for the chairman.
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“It had nothing to do with Ukraine. It had nothing to do with FISA,” he said. “FISA, actually, the 702 Section of that informs all kinds of intelligence. Without getting into details, there was some new information that confirmed some things that we had suspected.”
Waltz added, “And it was the radio silence, the appearance that the administration was sleepwalking as this threat continued to grow. That’s what really drove it. And, again, it was a unanimous vote — all sides, from the committee.”