President Joe Biden has been presented with a menu of options for the U.S. to carry out massive cyberattacks designed to disrupt Russia’s ability to sustain its military operations in Ukraine, 4 people familiar with the deliberations tell NBC News.
Two U.S. intelligence officials, one Western intelligence official & another person briefed on the matter say no final decisions have been made, but they say U.S. intelligence & military cyber warriors are proposing the use of American cyberweapons on a scale never before contemplated. Among the options: disrupting internet connectivity across Russia, shutting off electric power, & tampering with railroad switches to hamper Russia’s ability to resupply its forces.
“You could do everything from slow the trains down to have them fall off the tracks,” one person briefed on the matter said.
The sources said the options presented include pre-emptive responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, irrespective of whether Russian launches its own cyberattacks on the U.S. in retaliation for sanctions. They said most of the potential cyberattacks under consideration are designed to disrupt but not destroy & therefore fall short of an act of war by the United States against Russia. They say the idea is to harm networks, not people. Officials are debating the legal authorities under which the attacks would take place — whether they would be covert action or clandestine military activity. Either way, the U.S. would not publicly acknowledge carrying out the operations. U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the CIA & other agencies would have a role to play in the operations.
“Our response will be harsh & measured, but not so severe as to encourage Putin to take more drastic steps,” one U.S. official said.
The person briefed on the matter said there was a significant divide within the U.S. government, with one camp fearful of escalating & another urging a strong cyber response.
Any use of cyberweapons to retaliate for the Russian invasion of Ukraine would be a turning point for U.S. cyber operations, which have largely been focused on intelligence gathering, information operations & targeted strikes, many of them for counterterrorism purposes. The most significant use of American cyber capability is believed to be the Stuxnet attack on the Iranian nuclear program from 2007 to 2010, which used computer malware to cause massive physical damage.
But the U.S. has been laying the groundwork for years for possible cyber operations against Russia, China & other adversaries, experts say. Those countries have done the same on American infrastructure networks.
“Cyberweapons are going to be used in a way we haven’t used other weapons,” said James Lewis, a cyber expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It gives us options we didn’t have before.”
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Source: NBC News
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