House Intel chair warns of ‘serious national security threat’

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner on Wednesday issued a cryptic warning about “a serious national security threat.”

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The Ohio Republican did not elaborate.

“I am requesting that President (Joe) 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,” he said in a statement issued by the House Intelligence Committee.

Sources told Reuters that the issue is related to Russia and operations in space. Sources familiar with the intelligence confirmed to CNN that it is connected with Russia and called it “very sensitive.”

Earlier Wednesday, Turner sent an email to members of Congress saying that the House Intelligence Committee had “identified an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability,” The Associated Press reported. He added that all congressional lawmakers should know about the information and encouraged them to go to a secure area to review the intelligence, according to the AP.

Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, described the issue as a “longstanding, albeit serious” one, according to Bloomberg News. Still, he said, “People should not panic.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also told reporters that “there is no need for public alarm,” according to The Washington Post.

“We just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel,” he said.

Turner’s call for declassification came ahead of a planned meeting between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and the Gang of Eight, a group of congressional leaders that includes Turner. At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Sullivan said that he earlier reached out to the group and offered to brief them on an issue that he declined to elaborate on.

“I am a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out publicly today, in advance of a meeting on the books for me to go sit with him alongside our intelligence and defense professionals tomorrow,” Sullivan said.

“That’s his choice to do that. All I can tell you is that I’m focused on going to see him, sit with him as well as the other House members of the Gang of Eight tomorrow.”

He declined to share more information on the issue or confirm that the briefing is related to the situation that Turner called out on Wednesday.

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