U.S. President Barack Obama has been granted sweeping powers to order preemptive cyber-strikes on any given country, anonymous officials involved in a “secret legal review” of U.S. cyber warfare rules, told the New York Times Monday.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Times, the unnamed officials said quickly advancing tactics of cyber-warfare can be unleashed exclusively via the direct orders of the President\u2014should the administration suspect signs of a major digital attack. If the president approves a strike, the government will be able to \u201cattack adversaries by injecting them with destructive code\u2014even if there is no declared war,\u201d the Times reports.<\/p>\n
The administration has been working to hash out the nation’s first written rules on how and when the military and several government agencies can initiate acts of cyber-warfare; however, the rules will remain classified.<\/p>\n
“What we know about the legal questions Obama has grappled with is all secret. The development of ‘cyber-security’ policy or cyber warfare policies indicate a further expansion of the body of secret law under Obama,” Kevin Gosztola writes at FireDogLake.<\/p>\n