https://news.yahoo.com/secret-trump-order-gives-cia-more-powers-to-launch-cyberattacks-090015219.html
By Zach Dorfman, Kim Zetter, Jenna McLaughlin and Sean D. Naylor
Yahoo News
July 15, 2020
The Central Intelligence Agency has conducted a series of covert cyber
operations against Iran and other targets since winning a secret victory
in 2018 when President Trump signed what amounts to a sweeping
authorization for such activities, according to former U.S. officials with
direct knowledge of the matter.
The secret authorization, known as a presidential finding, gives the spy
agency more freedom in both the kinds of operations it conducts and who it
targets, undoing many restrictions that had been in place under prior
administrations. The finding allows the CIA to more easily authorize its
own covert cyber operations, rather than requiring the agency to get
approval from the White House.
Unlike previous presidential findings that have focused on a specific
foreign policy objective or outcome — such as preventing Iran from
becoming a nuclear power — this directive, driven by the National Security
Council and crafted by the CIA, focuses more broadly on a capability:
covert action in cyberspace.
The “very aggressive” finding “gave the agency very specific authorities
to really take the fight offensively to a handful of adversarial
countries,” said a former U.S. government official. These countries
include Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — which are mentioned directly
in the document — but the finding potentially applies to others as well,
according to another former official. “The White House wanted a vehicle to
strike back,” said the second former official. “And this was the way to do
it.”
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