There is great dissatisfaction in the intelligence community over House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner’s (R-OH) decision to brief the full House of Representatives on an evolving Russian nuclear-armed, anti-satellite system. While Turner did not explicitly publicize the system in question, he is not an idiot. He knew that once the full House was briefed, the source and nature of this system would quickly leak. So why did he do it?

One reason is that this leak supports Turner’s push to reauthorize a key government surveillance program. But it may also provide new financial benefits to some of Turner’s top corporate donors.