WASHINGTON (CN) — Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles on Thursday demanded a formal investigation into a vague statement from the House Committee on Intelligence warning of a possible national security threat, arguing that the panel’s GOP chairman should have considered the impact of such a public announcement.
Americans were left spooked Wednesday after the lower chamber’s intelligence panel, led by Ohio Representative Mike Turner, said in a statement that it had informed lawmakers of “an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability.” The panel chair called on the Biden administration to declassify documents related to the unnamed threat.
The cryptic announcement came as a shock to some members of Congress, as well as White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan, who told reporters during a press briefing Wednesday afternoon he was “surprised” by Turner’s public statement.
On Thursday, Ogles told House Speaker Mike Johnson that the timing of his colleague’s revelations was worthy of further scrutiny.
Writing in a letter to the speaker, the Tennessee Republican said Turner’s decision to speak publicly about a vague threat to national security “was done with a reckless disregard of the implications and consequences said information would have on geopolitics, domestic and foreign markets or the well-being and psyche of the American people.”
Ogles accused his fellow Republican of making the announcement on the same day that the House was set to consider an intelligence committee-led measure to reauthorize a controversial government surveillance program. The lawmaker also surmised that the timing of Turner’s statement was planned to “ensure additional funding for Ukraine.”
“This act constituted poor judgement at a minimum,” Ogles wrote, “and a complete breach of trust influenced by the pursuit of a political agenda at a maximum.”
The lawmaker asked Johnson to open a formal inquiry into Turner’s comments and their potential impacts, a request made “with great reticence,” he said.
Ogles also reminded the House speaker that Turner’s chairmanship was under his direct purview and that Johnson has “a duty and an obligation” to reassure Congress and Americans that the intelligence committee has not been “corrupted by the very institutions they are charged with monitoring.”
A spokesperson for Speaker Johnson did not immediately return a request for comment.
Ogles’s salvo against the intelligence committee chair comes as Republicans are squabbling over proposed legislation to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a domestic spying provision which some lawmakers say has been illegally used against American citizens.
House Republican leadership scuttled a vote on the measure, scheduled for Thursday, amid infighting over the bill’s omission of several key reforms demanded by members of both parties.
At least two of those policy changes — a warrant requirement for surveillance of Americans and a provision barring law enforcement from buying certain data from third-party brokers — were due to be brought up as amendments to the proposed legislation and enjoyed bipartisan support.
Some Republican lawmakers, including Ogles, have tied Wednesday’s national security scare to the now-canceled vote.
“Bizarre timing considering we are trying to end warrantless government surveillance this week,” Arizona Representative Andy Biggs said in a Wednesday post on X, formerly Twitter.
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz said the timing of the announcement was “suspicious” and suggested that it would be used as a basis to extend Section 702 authority without reform.
The exact nature of the threat Turner alluded to has yet to be confirmed, although reports suggest it could relate to Russian efforts to station nuclear weapons in Earth’s orbit for use against satellites.
Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, the intelligence committee’s Democrat ranking member, has downplayed the urgency of the potential threat, writing in a statement that it was a “significant one, but not a cause for panic.” Himes has said that he disagreed with Turner’s decision to make a public announcement.
National security advisor Sullivan was scheduled to meet with congressional leaders Thursday, he told reporters Wednesday, though he did not specify whether that meeting was related to the unnamed threat raised by lawmakers.
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