AFP
A secret legal review has concluded the US president has the power to order
pre-emptive cyber strikes if the US discovers credible evidence of a major
digital attack against it is in the offing.
The New York Times reported on Monday that the policy will govern how
the intelligence agencies can carry out searches of overseas computer networks
for signs of potential attacks. If the president approves, it can attack
adversaries with a destructive code—even if there is no declared war.
The review came as the US approved a five-fold expansion of its
cyber-security force over the coming years in a bid to increase its ability to
defend critical computer networks.
The Washington Post reported that the department’s Cyber Command, which
currently has a staff of about 900, will expand to about 4,900 troops and
civilians.
Last November, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta conceded that US
cyber-security needed more financial support and human capital.
The seriousness of the threat has been underscored by a string of
sabotage attacks, including one in which a virus was used to wipe data from
more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company.
According to The Times, John Brennan, who has been nominated to run the
Central Intelligence Agency, played a central role in developing the
administration’s policies regarding cyber-warfare.
President Barack Obama is known to have approved the use of
cyber-weapons only once, when he ordered an escalating series of cyber-attacks
against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, The Times said.
One senior American official said that the reviewers had quickly
determined that the cyber-weapons were so powerful that—like nuclear
weapons—they should be unleashed only on the direct orders of the commander in
chief, The Times noted.
International law allows any nation to defend itself from threats, and
the United States has applied that concept to conduct pre-emptive attacks, the
paper noted.
Under the new guidelines, the Pentagon would not be involved in
defending against ordinary cyber-attacks on American companies or individuals,
The Times said. That responsibility falls to the Department of Homeland
Security.
But the military would become involved in cases of a major cyber-attack
within the United States, the paper noted.
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