Obama orders target list for cyberattacks

US President Barack Obama has ordered senior national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyberattacks, a top secret presidential directive obtained by The Guardian reveals.

The 18-page Presidential Policy Directive 20, issued last October but not published, states that "Offensive Cyber Effects Operations [OCEO] … can offer unique and unconventional capabilities to advance US national objectives around the world with little or no warning to the adversary or target and with potential effects ranging from subtle to severely damaging".

It also contemplates the possible use of cyberattacks inside the US, but says domestic operations cannot be conducted without the prior order of the president, except in emergencies.

The aim of the document was "to put in place tools and a framework to enable government to make decisions" on cyberactions, a senior administration official told The Guardian.

The administration published some declassified talking points from the directive in January 2013, but those did not mention the stepping up of America's offensive capability and the drawing up of a target list.

The directive's publication came just before the president met his Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in California.

Even before the publication of the directive, Beijing had hit back against US allegations of Chinese cyberattacks, with a senior official claiming to have "mountains of data" on American cyberattacks he claimed were just as serious as those China is accused of having carried out against the US.