Lawmaker wants to clarify Pentagon’s authority for cyber operations

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2012/05/lawmaker-wants-clarify-pentagons-authority-cyber-operations/55624/

By Dawn Lim
Nextgov
May 8, 2012

House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Howard McKeon has called 
for legislative language to clarify that the Pentagon can launch secret 
cybersecurity operations to support military efforts and guard against 
network attacks.

In a release of his draft bill of the National Defense Authorization Act 
for fiscal 2013, the Republican lawmaker pushed for a clause to confirm 
that the Pentagon has “the authority to conduct clandestine military 
activities in cyberspace.”

Such operations could be taken to protect against cyber attacks or as an 
extension of military policy if Congress authorized use of force outside 
the United States, according to the document.

The draft did not clarify what such clandestine activities would 
encompass, acknowledging instead that “because of the evolving nature of 
cyber warfare, there is a lack of historical precedent for what 
constitutes traditional military activities in cyberspace.” The bill 
could force lawmakers to debate the scope and the authority of the 
Pentagon’s ability to wage hacking attacks and infiltrate enemy 
networks.

[...]

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