For the first time ever, the Obama administration has publicly admitted to developing offensive cyberweapons that could be aimed at foreign nations during wartime.
According to an article published Tuesday night by The New York Times, that admission came from General Keith Alexander, the chief of the military's newly created Cyber Command. He said officials are establishing 13 teams of programmers and computer experts who would focus on offensive capabilities. Previously, Alexander publicly emphasized defensive strategies in electronic warfare to the almost complete exclusion of offense.
"I would like to be clear that this team, this defend-the-nation team, is not a defensive team," Alexander, who runs both the National Security Agency and the new Cyber Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. "This is an offensive team that the Defense Department would use to defend the nation if it were attacked in cyberspace. Thirteen of the teams that we’re creating are for that mission alone."
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