WASHINGTON -- President Bush has ordered the government to draw up guidelines for electronic attacks against enemy computer networks, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Bush signed a directive in July ordering the government to develop, for the first time, rules for deciding when and how the United States would penetrate and disrupt foreign computer systems, the newspaper said.

The secret national security directive had not been publicly disclosed until now, the newspaper reported.

According to the report, cyber warfare rules were being prepared amid speculation that the Pentagon was considering some offensive computer operations against Iraq if the president decides to go to war over Baghdad's banned weapons programs.

"Whatever might happen in Iraq, you can be assured that all the appropriate approval mechanisms for cyber operations would be followed," an administration official was quoted as saying. The official declined to confirm or deny whether such planning was underway, the newspaper said.

A White House spokesman was not immediately available for comment.  more...

Source: Reuters

08 February 2003  |   permalink