Russian Space EMP Weapons Reportedly The “Serious National Security Threat” Referenced By House Intelligence Chairman
I think we need some more information here. Which is why I agree with Rep. Mike Turner that the information should be declassified.
Two days ago, we reported how the House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner had called for the White House To Immediately Declassify “Information Concerning A Serious National Security Threat”
“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.”
Statement from Chairman @RepMikeTurner: pic.twitter.com/OA9yJuEPlf
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) February 14, 2024
There was a lot of speculation about what the threat was, and how urgent it was. There were reports it had to do with some sort of space weapon.
One reaction was that it was all a ploy to pass Ukraine military funding. But Turner didn’t call for funding, he called for declassification of the information. If it was a big nothingburger then declassification would reveal that. So I didn’t buy into that conspiracy theory.
CNN is reporting (I know, I know) that the urgent threat was maybe not so urgent, but involves Russia putting nuclear weapons in space to disable satellites:
Russia is trying to develop a nuclear space weapon that would destroy satellites by creating a massive energy wave when detonated, potentially crippling a vast swath of the commercial and government satellites that the world below depends on to talk on cell phones, pay bills, and surf the internet, according to three sources familiar with the intelligence.
These sources gave CNN a more detailed understanding of what Russia is working on – and the threat it could pose – than the US government has previously disclosed.
Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, set off a frenzy in Washington on Wednesday when he issued a statement saying his panel “had information concerning a serious national security threat.” By Friday, President Joe Biden had publicly confirmed that Turner was referring to a new Russian nuclear anti-satellite capability — but officials have steadfastly refused to discuss it further, citing the highly classified nature of the intelligence.
The weapon is still under development and is not yet in orbit, Biden administration officials have emphasized publicly. But if used, officials say, it would cross a dangerous rubicon in the history of nuclear weapons and could cause extreme disruptions to everyday life in ways that are difficult to predict.
This kind of new weapon — known generally by military space experts as a nuclear EMP — would create a pulse of electromagnetic energy and a flood of highly charged particles that would tear through space to disrupt other satellites winging around Earth.
I claim no expertise on the subject, but haven’t EMP weapons been widely discussed as a threat for a long time? I just assumed they already existed.
This 2021 article explained the risk:
Abstract:The United States and NATO allies regularly experience from Russia major cyber-attacks penetrating government agencies and critical infrastructures for electric power, telecommunications, transportation and other sectors vital to electronic civilization. These events practice a new way of warfare, including EMP attacks, that could blackout North America and NATO Europe, and win World War III at the speed of light.Any nuclear weapon detonated in outer space, 30 kilometers or higher, will generate a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) damaging all kinds of electronics, blacking-out electric grids and collapsing other life-sustaining critical infrastructures. No blast, thermal, fallout or effects other than HEMP are experienced in the atmosphere and on the ground.Russian military doctrine, because HEMP attacks electronics, categorizes nuclear HEMP attack as a dimension of Information Warfare, Electronic Warfare and Cyber Warfare, which are modes of warfare operating within the electromagnetic spectrum.
But perhaps putting them in space would create a different threat. Taking down satellites without having to explode a nuke in our atmosphere, which would trigger a wider nuclear war, could cripple an opponent’s ability to communicate. But unless the threat could be targeted, the Russians would be taking down their own satellites also.
I think we need some more information here. Which is why I agree with Turner that the information should be declassified.
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Yes. This stuff has been talked about for literally DECADES at this point. It’s the entire plot of the 90’s James Bond movie Goldeneye, for crying out loud.
Turner is one of the biggest RINOs, and this crap was nothing but a laughably transparent attempt to ‘discover’ a brand new Russian threat to try and force a vote on the Ukraine funding that the RINOs wanted.
And no, Turner HIMSELF may not have called for it, but a veritable who’s-who of Ukrainian simps were doing so on his behalf. You’re actually going to claim it was just a coincidence that he magically made this PUBLIC claim the day after Johnson said he wasn’t going to vote on Ukraine funding?
I agree, and MAD still applies. we could EMP them, or far worse Some of us have backup electronics protected from EMP Basically spare parts that should be on hand anyway.
The spare parts are in a container on its way here from China.
Mine are in 55 gallon removable lid barrels, on their sides stacked in a rack. And yes, most of the stuff came from China. There is nothing I can do about that.
America needs to return manufacturing, produce products with state of the art, fully automated production.. That is the only way to be competitive.
This is nonsensical. They think skeery Russia is aiming to take out our military satellites one at a time, rather than crippling our ability to wage any kind of war or retaliation in a single EMP blow?
And do we think the US doesn’t have plans to do exactly that to Russia or China? Or Iran, for that matter?
No, its a pathetically transparent ploy to fear-monger. Oooh, the Rooshian boogieman gonna boogie!
I got to call BS on this. They are sending up the red flag just to get more funding for Ukraine.
But he obviously didn’t think it would be declassified until they rushed the Ukraine slush fund through, because he must know that people are going to laugh at it, once it’s made public.
It was a Ukraine/FISA play because it just could not have been anything else.
It was also a major operation to expose the retardation of Mike Turner. Maybe he felt left out of the Twit of the Year games? There’s such fierce competition, these days.
The answer is still no, no more protection money to the Ukraine. Let Biden pay if he wants their silence
“One reaction was that it was all a ploy to pass Ukraine military funding. But Turner didn’t call for funding, he called for declassification of the information. If it was a big nothingburger then declassification would reveal that. So I didn’t buy into that conspiracy theory.”
Sorry, you’re missing the point.
Ukraine funding is in trouble because the American people are tired of it, they wised up to the grift, they realized that Ukrainian Nazis aren’t really any more admirable than Putin is.
But suddenly release “news” (which I’m sure they’ve known for years) that the Rooskies have a “scary, kids!” space weapon, and expect that (large) portion of the population that will fall for anything that now “we can’t let them Russians win the war!”
It’s nothing but Mencken PR: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
EMP from high nuclear blast can propagate beyond line-of-sight in space. Satellites beyond the horizon were damaged during Starfish Prime detonation.
In any case, if Russia lets one loose, or NoKo, if any of their satellites are carrying a nuclear payload, whatever electrical or electronic items are down below will most likely fail beyond immediate repair.
Prepare accordingly.
Talk of an EMP attack by enemy actors is a evergreen topic and never goes out of fashion. It’s just not headline news until politicians want something from us.
“But perhaps putting them in space would create a different threat. Taking down satellites without having to explode a nuke in our atmosphere, which would trigger a wider nuclear war, could cripple an opponent’s ability to communicate. But unless the threat could be targeted, the Russians would be taking down their own satellites also.”
The Russians, in particular, aren’t going to do any such thing. They are bogged down in Ukraine. They aren’t about to go to war against NATO right now. They didn’t do it when they had parity, with the much larger USSR plus the Warsaw Pact stood against a smaller NATO. They have now maybe 1/4 the population, 1/8 the GDP, and probably 1/10 the satellites in orbit. Sever years ago, they had maybe the best launch capacity in the world. Now, they launch a fraction of the satellites launched every year by NATO countries, with one American company (SpaceX) launching half the satellites launched last year in the world. And finally, F-15 launched missiles were shown capable of taking down satellites several decades ago. It is likely that that technology has long been deployed by the US around the world, making Russian satellites a thing of the past within hours, if not minutes, of such a space attack by the Russians.
The threat, if there is one from a major enemy, is likely by the Chinese. They are launching more satellites than Russia these days. And they maybe able to take the lead away from the US in a couple years in reusable launch capacity. Plus, they have a bigger economy than Russia, and aren’t bogged down in a stupid war with a neighbor that is siphoning off much of their military spending.
“making Russian satellites a thing of the past within hours, if not minutes, of such a space attack by the Russians.”
First-strike still has serious value.
What a load of garbage with the hysteria over this. I think everyones first thought was about the Ukraine funding and what a ham handed way to try and force the House to vote for it.
The nukes in orbit are for nothing other than killing satellites as detonating one that high would have not effect on an EMP as the blast can’t travel without oxygen. The range would be limited but would create a zone of radiation that would damage any satellite traveling through it eventually if not immediately destroying them.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Damage from an EMP “blast” is not a shockwave requiring oxygen; it is from the radiation and radioactive particles from the explosion that cause the damage. They most emphatically do NOT need an oxygen atmosphere.
The Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs, from the sun – the particles/waves that cause auroras – get here without an oxygen-rich atmosphere between the sun and the ionosphere. Some with the protons and gamma rays from a solar flare that degrade radio communication. And it’s been happening a lot lately. We’ve had a few X-class flares this week.
The X-17 missile was used in Operation Argus to test high altitude nuclear detonations.
Between August-27-1958 and September-6, three X-17 missiles launched to 110, 190 and 493 miles detonated with yields of 1.7 kilotonnes of TNT.
The nuclear destruction sequence in “The Day After” (1983) begins with an EMP detonation in space, so this is nothing new except perhaps that it is in space before the overt hostilities begin.
There was an EMP Commission was established pursuant to title XIV of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106-398; 114 Stat. 1654A-345) that investigated these possibilities.
Let me guess…Joe dies, Kamala is sworn in and immediately orders the CIA to detonate their “scary Russian” emp. Martial law follows
They don’t see Russia as the enemy.
They see US as the enemy.
Fair play I guess since I see them as my main enemy
For a party that doesn’t see Russia as the enemy, they sure tag a lot of their domestic political targets for oppression by accusing them of collaboration with not-an-enemy.
I see scooter’s comment that the CIA has a “fake russian emp” that they will detonate and blame the Rooskies. Reichstag anyone?
“Reichstag” is so 20th century. The new term is “J6.”
EMP is more useful as an upper atmosphere detonation device with its focus on disrupting earth bound communications, data and electrical grids. Low earth orbit communications satellites have emergency backups in stationary orbits that can handle approximately 40% of the communications needs. Our nuclear missiles are not dependent on communication satellites to hit their targets. It would be a societal degradation weapon of fear. However the US stayed policy is a nuke used anywhere is initiation of nuclear war and is considered a first strike. Nice try on the scare tactics, but no money for the corrupt Ukrainian’s. FJB
If Russia has some sort of effective EMP space based weapon hovering over the US, my suggestion is to blow it up. What the @#$! is the Space Force for anyway?
The stuff doesn’t hover. Geosynchronous orbit is so high that even Hughes/Direcway satellite Internet was no speed bargain even 20 years ago (and speed-of-light limitations can’t be hand-waved away with new technology). That’s why Starlink was so groundbreaking — engineering the comm handoffs seamlessly as each satellite in low orbit quickly rose and set.
Rep Turner is an establishment stooge. He has voted for bills that:
1. prohibit sales of ‘assault weapons’ to civilians
2. Double the number of H2 immigration Visa granted to foreign workers
3. Prohibited dept of health/human services from cooperation with ICE
His major campaign donors have consistently been aerospace and defense companies.
The man was first elected in ’02 and reflects the same sort of folks elected back then; country club GoP, strong on defense (who also receive huge financial support from defense contractors), pro immigration stance to bring in cheap labor to displace US workers, view ‘assault weapons’ as bad to appeal to suburban soccer moms but above all once in office protect the establishment grift that keeps them in office and in positions of power, influence.
Would be nice if someone could either talk Mike Turner into retiring or primary him. The guy is one of the worst members of the GOP House caucus. He’s owned lock, stock & barrel by the warmongering Deep State.
Some of us have been barking this for years. Why now is it important in a week the uniparty suffered setbacks?
It is vital that this information be immediately declassified so the gals on The View can tell us how to respond.
Meh, you don’t need to declassify anything to get their opinion.
When do the “adults” in this country wake up and relies that once again we are being lied to and we demand transparency and honesty from our government? It is bad enough that the Bush Administration along with the legislative and the judicial branches approve and encourage mass surveillance of all Americans. Wake up and tune this liars off and toss them out of office.
Enjoy your reading:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB436/docs/EBB-023.pdf
Ain’t gonna happen, although I wish it would. ALL of the country’s money is now filtered through Washington, DC, and we now have a bunch of entrenched ignorami making decisions for the whole country, and they will have their own way, dammit. These fools buy into the legend promulgated by the WEF that the rest of us are illiterate and fit only to be serfs. This is a huge miscalculation, because collectively, we are smarter than they are, and many, many of us are better-educated.
The most disillusioning event of my entire life has been watching our supposed medical experts discard all of our hard-won wisdom and plans for dealing with epidemics in favor of hysteria, superstition, censorship, and medical malpractice.
They don’t appear to be doing any better on the diplomatic front. The only hypothesis I have found thus far that fits the facts is that the real objective is spend taxpayer money in order to get kickbacks. I would not be surprised if Russia actually has something that would work as an EMP weapon, as does the US. The difference right now is that Russia has been behaving more responsibly that the US, for at least several years running.
This does not make me an apologist for Putin. I find it absolutely infuriating that the best our political class could do in response to a capable rival is put up Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our purported leaders.
Demand in one hand, insurrect in the other, see which one fills up first.
Space Force was a brilliant move. Trump vindicated again.
Space Force was an obvious move, that these other clowns couldn’t see.
It’s no that The Orange Crush is so very smart, it’s that the way these other people engage makes them in practice dumb.
An ever-growing list of ways to die. It’s getting hard to decide which of them I would prefer.
“Space EMP would be bad!” is not news. Nor that it’s entirely possible. There’s at least three, to as many as six nations I’d give even money have a nuke in orbit right now.(*)
We live lives of greater risk than most people want to know, and near all politicians want to admit. Some pretend not to know so they can get people all wee=wee’d up when that’s convenient. “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”
“Got the shock right here, the name is Paul Revere
And here’s the guy that says that if all weather’s clear
Can do, can do…”
And we live with less risk as well. The difference is possible vs. likely.
Also, did they have 51 former senior intelligence guys declaring that this has all the hallmarks of being a thing? A new, surprising thing? A threat to democracy / our way of life / taco Tuesday thing?
.
(*) Filters are these:
— Among the nuclear nations, or got a special gift from one.
— Have potential enemies with significant enough space presence that “Space MAD” or capability denial are relevant. Like, anybody who doesn’t want the space-radio dependent US to decide it’s time to change their regime, for example. So, as first approximation that’s ever country on the planet would want this capability, plus several pan-national organizations, and NGOs.
— Access to launch capability to low-orbit insert a medium-heavy satellite.
Of course they’ve not *supposed to*. BUT, when has that stopped anybody who could hide what they were doing? And wouldn’t the folks capable of discovering a “rogue” space nuke be inclined to keep it quiet, at least until disclosure is useful?