Snowden reveals US plan for future cyber warfare

News, US January 19, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

The National Security Agency has been developing new digital weapons for future wars in cyberspace, show newly-leaked documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The weapons would be able to detect vulnerabilities in enemy systems to control all infrastructures, including banking systems, factories, airports as well as power and water supplies, according to 36 top secret documents received by Der Spiegel magazine.

“Stealthy implants” could infiltrate the enemy systems, allowing “permanent accesses,” the documents show.

The files also reveal that mass surveillance by NSA was only “Phase 0″ in America’s digital war strategy.

In another phase, labeled “Dominate”, the NSA would be able to “control/destroy critical systems & networks at will through pre-positioned accesses (laid in Phase 0).”

According to the documents, the NSA’s ultimate goal is “real time controlled escalation.”

The documents indicated that in this digital war any internet user could suffer damage to his or her data or computer. Also, the war has the potential to create serious danger in the offline world.

Since there are almost no international rules or supervisory authorities for these digital weapons, the only convention that applies in the field is “the survival of the fittest,” wrote Der Spiegel.

The report also said that the US army, Navy, Marines and Air Force have already established their “cyber forces”, with the NSA taking the lead in the program.

The director of the NSA Admiral Michael Rogers who also serves as the commander of the US Cyber Command, has almost 40,000 employees for both digital spying and destructive network attacks.

Snowden, who is currently living in Russia under temporary asylum, leaked thousands of classified documents about US surveillance programs starting in June 2013.

The classified documents revealed that US intelligence agencies gather intelligence from phone calls, emails and other communications both in the US and around the world.

SB/AT