U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum that the White House said is intended to empower federal law enforcement agencies to use cyber tools to combat “transnational criminal organizations” operating from outside U.S. jurisdiction to launch attacks against Americans.
The White House said Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum on National Security directing his administration to “leverage the capabilities and innovations of the private sector to help carry out these cyber operations under the supervision, direction and authority of the U.S. government.”
In a statement on the memorandum, the White House cited ransomware attacks, financial fraud and other crimes carried out by foreign criminal organizations, which the memorandum describes as “transnational criminal organizations.”
The White House added that the memorandum establishes a framework encouraging private-sector companies to enter into agreements with other private entities, as well as federal, state and local government agencies, to gather information on threats associated with transnational criminal organizations and propose cyber operations to counter those threats.
Under the memorandum, eligible companies will conduct “electronic surveillance operations” and “electronic influence operations” against designated targets under federal government supervision.
The memorandum states that “electronic effects include the ability to manipulate, disrupt, deny, degrade or destroy information systems, networks or physical or virtual infrastructure controlled by those systems, or the information stored on them.”
Reuters
