White House authorises ‘offensive cyber operations’ to deter foreign adversaries

The White House has “authorised offensive cyber operations” against US 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 on 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 were, or what specific malign behaviour they were intended to counter. The Trump administration is focused on foreign governments’ attempts to target US networks and potentially 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 more aggressive posture toward cyber deterrence compared with that of its predecessors. 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 operatings against us is higher than they want to bear”.