From Wes O'Donnell's Eye's Only substack, April 29:
Low Earth Orbit is the new high ground, and it's getting crowded
It started in early 2024, with a single cryptic press conference that sent the national security community into overdrive.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stood at the podium and warned that the "Gang of Eight" — the senior leadership of Congress — would be briefed immediately on a “highly concerning and destabilizing” new development tied to Russian military capabilities.
He offered no further comment, and in my experience, that level of cryptic urgency only ever precedes a very serious threat.
At the time, speculation ran wild. What could possibly be so dangerous that it triggered a rare emergency session between the White House and Congress? Russia already has one of the largest nuclear arsenals on the planet. What could be worse?
I reached out to my intelligence contacts inside the NSA - former Air Force colleagues whom I once served with.
The answer, as it turns out, was orbiting above our heads.
Later that evening, it leaked: US intelligence officials had picked up on Russian efforts to develop and potentially deploy a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon. Specifically, the threat involved either nuclear-tipped satellites or nuclear-powered devices capable of disabling or destroying US satellite constellations.
The implications were chilling. Our satellites are the unseen architecture of American power. From missile warning and GPS to banking systems and drone operations, satellites knit together the digital and military fabric of modern civilization.
A surprise strike on US satellites would blind America’s military, disrupt our economy, and potentially open a window for a nuclear first strike.
That urgency explains why the US Missile Defense Agency scrambled within 24 hours to launch new Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellites into orbit.
Washington took it seriously because the threat was real.
At the center of this escalating drama sat one satellite: Cosmos 2553.
Cosmos 2553: Russia’s Mysterious Launch
Launched quietly just weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Cosmos 2553 was supposed to be just another "research" satellite, according to Russian officials. Parked high above Earth at about 2,000 kilometers, an altitude thick with cosmic radiation, it raised a few eyebrows but no alarms at the time. Moscow claimed it was testing instruments in a high-radiation environment. Nothing to see here.
But to seasoned analysts, its behavior hinted at something more sinister. Space-tracking firms like LeoLabs and Slingshot Aerospace noticed erratic behavior in the satellite’s flight path....
....MUCH MORE
