Barack Obama Can Order Preemptive Cyber Strikes
One senior American official said that officials 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.
While the rules have been in development for more than two years, they are coming out at a time of greatly increased cyber attacks on American companies and key infrastructure.
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that an American power station, which it did not name, was crippled for weeks by cyber attacks. The New York Times reported last week that it had been struck, for more than four months, by a cyber attack emanating from China. The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have reported similar attacks on their systems.
Under the new guidelines, the Pentagon would not be involved in defending against ordinary cyber attacks on American companies or individuals, even though it has the largest array of cyber tools. Domestically, that responsibility falls to the Department of Homeland Security, and investigations of cyber attacks or theft are carried out by the FBI.
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