Trump signed secret authorization for CIA to conduct cyber attacks

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) -In 2018 President Trump signed a secret authorization, known as a presidential finding, which granted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sweeping freedom to conduct covert cyber operations against Iran and others, Yahoo News reports.

Former US officials with direct knowledge of the issue have said that the authorization removed a number of operational restrictions placed on the CIA by previous administrations, allowing the spy agency more freedom to authorize its cyber activities without the need for Whitehouse approval, Yahoo News reported.

While the presidential findings of Trump’s predecessors were focused on an objective such as stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, this authorization focused on the ability to conduct covert cyber operations against Russia, China, Iran and North Korea specifically, but also against other entities.

The authorization is reportedly not about permitting hacking to collect intelligence but, rather, to create disruption such as causing power outages or destruction such as destroying centrifuges used for uranium enrichment.

According to a former US government official, the authorization “gave the agency very specific authorities to really take the fight offensively to a handful of adversarial countries,” Yahoo News said. “The White House wanted a vehicle to strike back. And this was the way to do it.”

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