Pentagon prepares for cyberwar

The Pentagon has revealed that it is planning to set up a new military command for cyberspace, which would enable America to carry out both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

Officials have told the New York Times that President Barack Obama will announce the creation of a new White House office this Friday. The office, which will have a multi-million dollar budget, will report to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Installing this cybercommand, the New York Times said, would be a step beyond the strategy of the Bush administration, which largely failed to address this problem.

Its role will be to make sure only authorized users get access to government computer networks, and to safeguard the computer systems that look after stock exchanges, global banking transactions and air traffic control.

The US has to defend itself against thousands of internet attacks – mostly from hackers, but also from foreign governments – every day. "We are not comfortable discussing the question of offensive cyberoperations, but we consider cyberspace a war-fighting domain", said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "We need to be able to operate within that domain just like on any battlefield, which includes protecting our freedom of movement and preserving our capability to perform in that environment."

One case that the Pentagon still have to resolve is that of Gary McKinnon, the Scottish hacker accused of breaking into 97 computers owned by NASA, the US Army, US Navy, Department of Defense, and the US Air Force. McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, has launched various appeals to avoid extradition to the US, where he could face a jail sentence of up to 70 years. He claims he was only looking for evidence of UFOs, antigravity technology, and the suppression of 'Free Energy'.