CYBERCOM

Meet General Keith Alexander The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which ‘Bonesaw’ Makes A Mockery Of PRISM)

by

Flashback.

– Meet The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which ‘Bonesaw’ Makes A Mockery Of PRISM):

…

Inside Fort Meade, Maryland, a top-secret city bustles. Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildings—the city has its own post office, fire department, and police force. But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, monitored by sensitive motion detectors, and watched by rotating cameras. To block any telltale electromagnetic signals from escaping, the inner walls of the buildings are wrapped in protective copper shielding and the one-way windows are embedded with a fine copper mesh.

This is the undisputed domain of General Keith Alexander, a man few even in Washington would likely recognize. Never before has anyone in America’s intelligence sphere come close to his degree of power, the number of people under his command, the expanse of his rule, the length of his reign, or the depth of his secrecy. A four-star Army general, his authority extends across three domains: He is director of the world’s largest intelligence service, the National Security Agency; chief of the Central Security Service; and commander of the US Cyber Command. As such, he has his own secret military, presiding over the Navy’s 10th Fleet, the 24th Air Force, and the Second Army.

Schematically, Alexander’s empire consists of the following: virtually every piece in America’s information intelligence arsenal.

…

 

Meet The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which ‘Bonesaw’ Makes A Mockery Of PRISM)

by

– Meet The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which “Bonesaw” Makes A Mockery Of PRISM)

With his revelations exposing the extent of potential, and actual, pervasive NSA surveillance over the American population, Edward Snowden has done a great service for the public by finally forcing it to answer the question: is having Big Brother peek at every private communication and electronic information, a fair exchange for the alleged benefit of the state’s security. Alas, without further action form a population that appears largely numb and apathetic to disclosures that until recently would have sparked mass protests and toppled presidents, the best we can hope for within a political regime that has hijacked the democratic process, is some intense introspection as to what the concept of “America” truly means.

However, and more importantly, what Snowden’s revelations have confirmed, is that behind the scenes, America is now actively engaged in a new kind of war: an unprecedented cyber war, where collecting, deciphering, intercepting, and abusing information is the only thing that matters and leads to unprecedented power, and where enemies both foreign and domestic may be targeted without due process based on a lowly analyst’s “whim.”

It has also put spotlight on the man, who until recently deep in the shadows, has been responsible for building America’s secret, absolutely massive cyber army, and which according to a just released Wired profile is “capable of launching devastating cyberattacks. Now it’s ready to unleash hell.”

Meet General Keith Alexander, “a man few even in Washington would likely recognize”, which is troubling because Alexander is now quite possibly the most powerful person in the world, that nobody talks about. Which is just the way he likes it.

Read moreMeet The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which ‘Bonesaw’ Makes A Mockery Of PRISM)

Pentagon Creates 13 Offensive Cyber Teams For Worldwide Attacks

by


National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander

– Pentagon creates 13 offensive cyber teams for worldwide attacks (RT, March 13, 2013):

The head of the United States Cyber Command says the US is developing 40 new teams of cyber-agents that will both protect America’s critical infrastructure from hackers and as well as launch attacks against the country’s adversaries.

Gen. Keith Alexander, who leads both the Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the 40 online support teams should be ready for action by 2015, with 13 of those units existing specifically to attack other countries.

Alexander has been reluctant to go into detail about how the newly-designed teams will engage in cyber battle with America’s enemies, but he did say that the 13 squads of offensive fighters won’t be sitting around waiting for hackers from abroad to strike first. The NSA chief described the groups as ‘‘defend-the-nation’’ teams but also stressed that their role will be one that puts them on both sides of the action.

Read morePentagon Creates 13 Offensive Cyber Teams For Worldwide Attacks

Obama Declares Global Cyberwar

by

– Obama Declares Global Cyberwar (Veterans Today, Feb 8, 2013):

Throughout his tenure, Obama governed lawlessly for the monied interests that own him. He’s waged no-holds-barred war on humanity.

Strategy includes homeland tyranny, fear-mongering, saber rattling, hot wars, proxy ones, drone ones, domestic political ones, geopolitical ones, financial ones, anti-populist ones, sanctions, subversion, sabotage, targeted assassinations, mass murder, cyberwar, and more.

In May 2009, Obama prioritized cybersecurity. He called cyber-threats “one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.”

“America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.”

Read moreObama Declares Global Cyberwar

Secret Rules To Let Obama Order ‘Pre-Emptive’ Cyber Attacks

by

– Secret rules to let Obama order ‘pre-emptive’ cyber attacks (PressTV, Feb 4, 2013):

A secret legal review on the use of America’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons has concluded that President Obama has the broad power to order a pre-emptive strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack looming from abroad, according to officials involved in the review.

That decision is among several reached in recent months as the administration moves, in the next few weeks, to approve the nation’s first rules for how the military can defend, or retaliate, against a major cyberattack.

New policies will also govern how the intelligence agencies can carry out searches of faraway computer networks for signs of potential attacks on the United States and, if the president approves, attack adversaries by injecting them with destructive code – even if there is no declared war.

Read moreSecret Rules To Let Obama Order ‘Pre-Emptive’ Cyber Attacks

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden: US Should Be Able To Shut Down The Internet

by

See also:

– Obama Administration Proposal To Give FBI Access To Your Internet History Without Court Order

– Obama Administration Plans Secret Big Brother ‘Perfect Citizen’ Net Surveillance

– Obama Internet ‘Kill Switch’ Approved By Senate Committee

former-cia-director-michael-hayden
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – Cyberterrorism is such a threat that the U.S. president should have the authority to shut down the Internet in the event of an attack, Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said.

Hayden made the comments during a visit to San Antonio where he was meeting with military and civilian officials to discuss cyber security. The U.S. military has a new Cyber Command which is to begin operations on October 1.

Hayden said the president currently does not have the authority to shut down the Internet in an emergency.

“My personal view is that it is probably wise to legislate some authority to the President, to take emergency measures for limited periods of time, with clear reporting to Congress, when he feels as if he has to take these measures,” he said in an interview on the weekend.

“But I would put the bar really high as to when these kinds of authorities might take place,” he said.

He likened cyberwarfare to a “frontier.”

“It’s actually the new area of endeavor, I would compare it to a new age of exploration. Military doctrine calls the cyber thing a ‘domain,’ like land sea, air, space, and now cyber ? It is almost like a frontier experience” he said.

Hayden, a retired U.S. Air Force general, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency during the administration of President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009.

September 26, 2010|4:05 p.m.

Source: The Los Angeles Times

Obama Administration Plans Secret Big Brother ‘Perfect Citizen’ Net Surveillance

by

Change we can believe in:

– Dylan Ratigan Show: President Obama ‘Has A Hit List Of American Citizens Like YOU targeted For Assassination’

– Obama Internet ‘Kill Switch’ Approved By Senate Committee

big-brother-obama

The US plans to install a Big Brother-style monitoring system on the computer systems of private companies and government agencies to prevent cyber-attacks from abroad.

The program, named Perfect Citizen, will rely on sensors that will be deployed in networks running critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants.

It will be able to detect any attempt by foreign saboteurs to launch a cyber-attack .

But privacy campaigners have reacted furiously, saying that ‘mission creep’ will make it easy for security forces to effectively spy on normal citizens.

Read moreObama Administration Plans Secret Big Brother ‘Perfect Citizen’ Net Surveillance

US Cyber Command chief: ‘Pentagon systems are ‘probed by unauthorized users approximately 250,000 times an hour, over six million times a day’

by

See also: NATO Warns of Military Strike Against Cyber Attackers (Times)

US Cyber Command chief warns of ‘remote sabotage’

general-keith-alexander

The top US cyberwarrior said Thursday that Pentagon networks are probed over six million times a day and expressed concern about a rise in “remote sabotage” attacks on computer systems.

General Keith Alexander, head of the newly created US Cyber Command, also said developing a real-time picture of threats to US military networks and the rules to fight back would be among his priorities.

Alexander, who also heads the National Security Agency, the super secret US surveillance agency, said Pentagon systems are “probed by unauthorized users approximately 250,000 times an hour, over six million times a day.”

In his first public remarks since assuming command of Cyber Command two weeks ago, Alexander said the US military “depends on its networks for command and control, communications, intelligence, operations and logistics.”

“We at the Department of Defense have more than seven million machines to protect linked-in 15,000 networks,” he said in a speech to cybersecurity experts and reporters at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The role of US Cyber Command is to “deter, detect and defend against emerging threats against our nation in cyberspace,” Alexander said.

“Our nation’s interests are in jeopardy,” he said citing “tremendous vulnerabilities” and threats from a “growing array of foreign actors, terrorists, criminal groups and individual hackers.”

“Cyberspace has become a critical enabler for all elements of national and military power,” Alexander said. “Our data must be protected.”

Read moreUS Cyber Command chief: ‘Pentagon systems are ‘probed by unauthorized users approximately 250,000 times an hour, over six million times a day’

NATO Warns of Military Strike Against Cyber Attackers

by

And such an attack can be much more easily staged than a real terrorist attack.

Listen also to the buzzwords.

nato

NATO is considering the use of military force against enemies who launch cyber attacks on its member states.

The move follows a series of Russian-linked hacking against NATO members and warnings from intelligence services of the growing threat from China.

A team of NATO experts led by Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, has warned that the next attack on a NATO country “may well come down a fibre-optic cable”.

A report by Albright’s group said that a cyber attack on the critical infrastructure of a NATO country could equate to an armed attack, justifying retaliation.

“A large-scale attack on NATO’s command and control systems or energy grids could possibly lead to collective defence measures under article 5,” the experts said.

Article 5 is the cornerstone of the 1949 NATO charter, laying down that “an armed attack” against one or more NATO countries “shall be considered an attack against them all”.

It was the clause in the charter that was invoked following the September 11 attacks to justify the removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

NATO is now considering how severe the attack would have to be to justify retaliation, what military force could be used and what targets would be attacked.

Read moreNATO Warns of Military Strike Against Cyber Attackers

US Cyber Command: War In World’s Fifth Battlespace

by

us-cyber-command_logo

On May 21 U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the activation of the Pentagon’s first computer command. And the world’s first comprehensive, multi-service military cyber operation.

U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM), initially approved on June 23, 2009, attained the status of what the Pentagon calls initial operations capability eleven months afterward. It is to be fully operational later this year.

CYBERCOM is based at Fort Meade, Maryland, which also is home to the National Security Agency (NSA). The head of the NSA and the related Central Security Service is Keith Alexander, U.S. Army lieutenant general on the morning of May 21 but promoted to four-star general before the formal launching of Cyber Command later in the day so as to become its commander.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Alexander for his new position on May 7. In written testimony presented to Congress earlier, he stated that in addition to the defense of computer systems and networks, “the cyber command would be prepared to wage offensive operations as well….” [1] Two days before his confirmation the Associated Press reported that Alexander “said the U.S. is determined to lead the global effort to use computer technology to deter or defeat enemies.” [2] The conjunction “and” would serve the purpose better than “or.”

The day Alexander assumed his new command Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn “called the establishment of U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md., today a milestone in the United States being able to conduct full-spectrum operations in a new domain,” adding that the “cyber domain…is as important as the land, sea, air and space domains to the U.S. military, and protecting military networks is crucial to the Defense Department’s success on the battlefield.” [3]

Read moreUS Cyber Command: War In World’s Fifth Battlespace