The White House said the threat is «not an active capability» and cannot «attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth.»
The White House confirmed Thursday that the U.S. has intelligence that Russia is developing a capability to target satellites in space, one day after the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee gave a cryptic warning about «.»
«It is related to an anti-satellite capability that Russia is developing,» John Kirby, a national security spokesman, said at the daily press briefing. «This is not an active capability that’s been deployed, and though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety.»
«We’re not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth,» Kirby said, later adding that the threat «would be space-based.»
Kirby said the U.S. has been aware of Russia’s pursuit of the capability for many months, if not years, «but only in recent weeks now has the intelligence community been able to assess with a higher sense of confidence exactly how Russia continues to pursue it.»
Kirby would not give details about whether the capability involved a nuclear-powered weapon or a nuclear-capable weapon.
