White House authorizes 'offensive cyber operations' to deter foreign adversaries

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: September 22, 2018 at 10:58:06 GMT+9
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] White House authorizes 'offensive cyber operations' to deter foreign adversaries
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from friend Mike Cheponis.  DLH]
>
> White House authorizes ‘offensive cyber operations’ to deter foreign adversaries
> By Ellen Nakashima
> Sep 20 2018
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-authorizes-offensive-cyber-operations-to-deter-foreign-adversaries-bolton-says/2018/09/20/b5880578-bd0b-11e8-b7d2-0773aa1e33da_story.html>
>
> The White House has “authorized offensive cyber operations” against U.S. adversaries, in line with a new policy that 
> eases the rules on the use of digital weapons to protect the nation, national security adviser John Bolton said 
> Thursday.
>
> “Our hands are not tied as they were in the Obama administration,” Bolton said during a news briefing to unveil a new 
> national cyber strategy.
>
> He did not elaborate on the nature of the offensive operations, how significant they are, or what specific malign 
> behavior they are intended to counter.
>
> The Trump administration is focused on foreign governments’ attempts to target U.S. networks and interfere in 
> November’s election. The strategy incorporates a new classified presidential directive that replaced one from the 
> Obama administration, Bolton said. It allows the military and other agencies to undertake cyber operations intended 
> to protect their systems and the nation’s critical networks.
>
> Bolton’s remarks are consistent with the Trump administration’s posture toward cyber deterrence, which is considered 
> to be more aggressive in comparison to former administrations’ positions. He cast the latest move as part of an 
> effort to “create structures of deterrence that will demonstrate to adversaries that the cost of their engaging in 
> operations against us is higher than they want to bear.”
>
> In general, the president’s directive — called National Security Presidential Memorandum 13, or NSPM 13 — frees the 
> military to engage, without a lengthy approval process, in actions that fall below the “use of force” or a level that 
> would cause death, destruction or significant economic impacts, said individuals familiar with the policy who spoke 
> on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information.
>
> “As a policy matter, Bolton’s remarks likely mean the administration is willing to take more risks than previous 
> administrations, but the proof will be in the results,” said Michael Daniel, who was cyber coordinator for the Obama 
> Administration.
>
> Trump’s strategy builds on those put forward by previous administrations and incorporates initiatives already 
> underway, such as using a “risk-management” approach to addressing vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.
>
> Overall, the strategy almost mirrors the Obama administration’s national cybersecurity action plan issued in 2016, 
> which grew from the best practices developed in the cybersecurity industry and the Commerce Department, said Ari 
> Schwartz, a former senior cyber official for the Obama administration.
>
> The strategy “does not go far enough in accelerating the reforms that need to be made,” said Rep. Jim Langevin 
> (D-R.I.), who co-chairs the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus. It’s good to clarify the roles of federal agencies in 
> protecting critical infrastructure, he said, but “the document often fails to provide the strategic guidance 
> regarding what trade-offs we should expect to make” between regulating and responding to the needs of those who 
> operate critical systems.
>
> Langevin said it is ironic that Bolton eliminated the position of White House cyber coordinator when he took office 
> earlier this year. Langevin said cyber coordinator is “the very position best able to address these trade-offs at a 
> national level.”
>
> Bolton said he did so to “eliminate the duplication and overlap” on the National Security Council staff. He said 
> other directorates — intelligence and counterproliferation, for instance — were headed by directors but did not have 
> a coordinator above that position.
>
> The issue of responding to cyber provocations has been hotly debated for years. The Obama administration was 
> criticized for being too slow and too timid. Some former officials pushed back, saying the obstacle to responding 
> aggressively to a foreign cyberattack was not the policy, but the inability of agencies to deliver a forceful 
> response.
>
> “When you got to the point of saying, ‘Okay, what do you have for us?’ there was not much ready to go,” said 
> Schwartz, now managing director for cybersecurity services at the law firm Venable.
>
> The new White House document comes on the heels of a Pentagon cyber strategy issued this week that focuses on China 
> and Russia as the United States’ top adversaries. “This is attributed to their roles, respectively, in eroding U.S. 
> military and economic vitality and challenging our democratic processes,” said Kate Charlet, a former senior Pentagon 
> cyber official who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
>
> The Defense Department strategy also calls for “confronting threats before they reach U.S. networks.” U.S. Cyber 
> Command has always been tasked with defending the nation against attacks while operating outside U.S. borders. Now 
> defensive activity will take place in the context of “day-to-day great power competition” rather than in crisis.
>
> [snip]
>
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