Intel Community’s Sharing of Cyber Tools Raises Legal Questions

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Before the establishment of US Cyber Command in 2010, a combatant commander who wanted to take down an enemy’s surface-to-air missile sites or other defenses without blowing them up had only one option: Call the National Security Agency at Fort Meade (MD) and plead for assistance.

NSA jealously guarded its role as steward of the nation’s offensive cyber weapons, said one retired intelligence official, but that is changing. In May 2010, the Senate added “chief of Cyber Command” to the duties held by NSA’s director, Army Gen. Keith Alexander. Alexander subsequently directed NSA to begin turning over offensive cyber tools to Cyber Command. Over the last few months, the dual-hatted general has set in motion an even bigger change. Cyber Command has begun arming combatant commanders with a selection of offensive tools and establishing teams of cyber warriors, called combat-support elements, at military sites beyond Fort Meade. This is adding complexity to the legal questions being asked by members of Congress, retired defense officials and independent experts.


Intel Community’s Sharing of Cyber Tools Raises Legal Questions