Quite a number of things disturbed me about the New York Times’s recent article alleging that the U. S. has been inserting malware into Russian power grid control systems. For one thing I question the article’s veracity. For another if true I think it’s irresponsible of the NYT to publish such information. Are we to interpret it that today’s NYT would have been publishing U. S. troop movements in real time to the Axis? Inserting such malware is an act of war. If we are, indeed, doing that it is brinksmanship with incalculable risks.
I found this highly distressing:
But the action inside the Russian electric grid appears to have been conducted under little-noticed new legal authorities, slipped into the military authorization bill passed by Congress last summer. The measure approved the routine conduct of “clandestine military activity†in cyberspace, to “deter, safeguard or defend against attacks or malicious cyberactivities against the United States.â€
Under the law, those actions can now be authorized by the defense secretary without special presidential approval.
While I can see the good sense in such a provision to allow for preemption or counter-attack, that does not seem to be the case here. I am not a lawyer but it seems to me that it is a violation of black letter law, not merely the U. S. Constituion but many provisions in the UCMJ. An American general would be bound to reject such a course of action.
Besides, the Congress does not have the power to amend the Constitution by statute. The Congress and the president together do not have that power.
I found this concerning as well:
Since at least 2012, current and former officials say, the United States has put reconnaissance probes into the control systems of the Russian electric grid.
That’s before Russia invaded Ukraine and before DHS began alleging incursions of Russian malware into the U. S. power, before the law mentioned above was enacted and before Donald Trump became president. Did President Obama order this actions? Did he know about them?
I thought it was unclear when the Russians started placing malware into our grid? If this is an act of war, then the Russians doing so is also an act of war. By that reasoning so was their interfering in our elections. Too much war.
Steve
This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.
1982: “In the book, Reed stated the United States added a Trojan horse to gas pipeline control software that the Soviet Union obtained from a company in Canada.[1] According to Reed, when the components were deployed on a Trans-Siberian gas pipeline, the Trojan horse led to a huge explosion.[1] He wrote: “The pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to the pipeline joints and welds. The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space.”[1]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Abyss
Remember the Stuxnet virus that sabotaged the Iranian centrifuges? It was so sophisticated that only a state (country) could create such a complicated program. Total disinformation! Actually it was a very simple, compact program; 50 lines of code or less. It was probably embedded at the Siemens factory (the controller vendor) in cooperation with a western intelligence agency or clandestinely by an operative (Israeli?).
As to the current kerfuffle, it is not inconceivable that this was a rogue operation by US spooks.
Reed’s story has been questioned.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/907969/query-1982-siberian-pipeline-explosion
Steve
Steve,
I followed this subject quite closely and there is a preponderance of evidence that Reed was substantially correct. His book was written by a politician from a political point of view. My readings were of a technical and operational nature. There were a number of sources that told slightly different stories or just plain contradicted it. Just what you’d expect when a disinformation operation is in place. There were a number of technical disclosures from different sources that meshed in a fine enough detail to verify that the CIA blew up that pipeline.
Heh. And I suppose the FBI and CIA wouldn’t engage in actions to undermine an election. Can’t have that shit.
Its signaling. Just like Russia setting off that hypersonic missile. Look what we can do!
We’re not in Kansas anymore…….
Roy- Then that was even more of an act of war, and the NYTs writings pale in comparison to Reed’s book. I suspect that there is a lot of signaling and selective leaking here so that I don’t think we know for sure if this is true and who it was aimed at.
Steve
Can’t believe that there is surprise that this is going on. I think the CIA would be remiss if they did not have plans like this. Also think this was a very purposeful leak from this very leaky WH.
No distress over the fact that there was no intention to inform the president of these actions? None? Their fear was that these actions would be countermanded (mustn’t upset BFF Vladimir), or more significantly, afraid the current occupant of the Oval Office would spill the beans in talks with others the way he talked about classified information with Lavrov and Kisliak.
Having plans is one thing. I would expect both the CIA and military to have plans. They should not be deploying those plans. It is blatantly illegal and immoral. And especially they should not be deploying such plans without informing the president. If you don’t believe the president can be trusted, impeach him. Do not go around him. IMO that, too, is blatantly illegal.
Plus there is some controversy over who did what when. For example, I haven’t seen much public evidence that the Russians did anything prior to 2014 and there is pretty good evidence that we did. Not to mention that we’ve been interfering in Russian elections since the 1990s. If you’re going to start hyperventilating about Russian interference in U. S. elections, you’d be in a stronger position if you weren’t interfering in theirs.