The national security threat that Republicans announced earlier Wednesday turns out to be a new Russian program designed to attack and disable US satellites, a move that could cripple American military reach and cause havoc in commercial systems, the Washington Post reports.
Russian scientists have reportedly begun working on the system, which could employ a nuclear weapon or other technology to disable a wide region of satellites. After being briefed on classified information, members of Congress said the system was still years away from potential deployment but, as one Congressman said, it would be a “geo-strategic game changer.”