President can order preemptive cyberattacks if needed
A secret review of American policies governing the use of
cyberweapons has concluded that President Barack Obama has the broad power to
order pre-emptive strikes on any country preparing to launch a major digital
attack against the U.S.
The review is part of an ongoing effort by the
Administration to develop new ground rules for U.S. engagement in cyberspace.
Over the next few weeks the administration will work on approving rules for how
the military can defend or retaliate against cyberattacks launched by
unfriendly nation states, according to a report in The New York Times.
The rules will also spell out how far U.S. intelligence
agencies can go in looking for and mitigating imminent threats against U.S.
assets in cyberspace, The Times reported, quoting unnamed sources. It would
spell out situations where the military, with presidential approval, would be
allowed to go out and preemptively inject destructive code on an adversary's
networks, the report noted.
The order would also provide for exceptions where the
military would be permitted to carry out preemptive cyberattacks of a tactical
nature where executive approval would not be necessary
The highly classified rules have been under development
for nearly two years and are apparently a response to growing concerns about
crippling attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure targets by enemy states.
The new policies would continue to bar the military from defending
domestic civilian targets against most cyberattacks, since that would be a task
carried by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. However, in the event of a
major cyberattack the rules would allow the Pentagon to become involved. The
threshold for what constitutes a major event will be deliberately kept shrouded
to confound adversaries.
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