By Rebecca Shabad and Scott Wong —
NBC News
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Turner, issued an unusual statement this Wednesday in which he warned of a “serious threat to national security” without giving more details, anticipating what the White House stated that It was a briefing scheduled this Thursday with congressional leaders.
“The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence today made information relating to a serious threat to national security available to all members of Congress,” Turner wrote in his statement, released Wednesday morning.
Turner added that he has asked the president, Joe Biden, to “declassify all information related to this threat so that Congress, the Government and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to the threat,” of which in his statement He did not offer further details.
Mike Turner during a press conference at the US Capitol, January 19, 2022. Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan suggested shortly afterward in a press conference that he was perplexed by the congressman's statement because they had a briefing scheduled for Thursday.
Sullivan said that earlier this week, he contacted congressional leaders in the House and Senate to offer to do a briefing.
“That's been on the agenda, so I'm a little surprised that Turner came out publicly today, before the meeting, for me to go sit down with him along with our intelligence and defense professionals,” Sullivan told reporters. .
“All I can tell you is that I am focused on going to see him tomorrow,” he added, “I am not in a position to say anything else at this time.”
Asked whether the public should be concerned, Sullivan said hesitantly: “In some ways, that question is impossible to answer with a straight 'yes' because Americans understand that there are a number of threats and challenges in the world to which that we face every day;
and those range from terrorism to state actors, and we have to confront them.”
“I trust that the president [Joe Biden], in the decisions he has made, will guarantee the security of the American people in the future, as I can say.
I will look them in the eye with confidence that we are protecting the national security of the United States and its people,” Sullivan told reporters.
A Democratic source familiar with the threat told NBC News: “This is a serious matter that could lead to a destabilizing situation and a threat to national security.”
He described it as a “potential foreign threat” but would not identify where it came from.
Democratic Representative Jim Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, indicated that there is no reason to panic.
“People should not panic, that is unequivocal.”
Turner “is right to highlight this issue, but it is so sensitive that he is not discussing it publicly right now,” Himes told reporters.
"And I don't want people to think that Martians are landing or that their Wednesday is going to be ruined."