The U.S Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) might execute a major cyber strike against Russia, as retaliation for the cyberattacks that Kremlin-based hackers allegedly made to the American voters and the Democratic National Convention, in order to interfere with presidential elections.
Apparently, the CIA gave various options of clandestine cyber operations to attack the Kremlin leadership to the White House, with the intention to discredit and embarrass it in the world´s eyes. According to Digital Trends, a former Intelligence official explained that the agency was already beginning its preparations for the cyber strike, and is gathering information about Vladimir Putin and major Russian officials.
The U.S. Previously Requested Cyber Strikes Against Russia
In fact, it was known through an NBC News report that a team within the CIA´s Center for Cyber Intelligence could already be preparing for the cyber strike against Russia, which is an action that the White might have requested many times. The mission objective could be to send a message to Putin, and prevent Russian hackers from interfering with the U.S. presidential elections.
"We've always hesitated to use a lot of stuff we've had, but that's a political decision. If someone has decided, 'We've had enough of the Russians,' there is a lot we can do. Step one is to remind them that two can play at this game and we have a lot of stuff. Step two, if you are looking to mess with their networks, we can do that, but then the issue becomes, they can do worse things to us in other places," told two former CIA officials to International Business Times.
The CIA Doesn't Need To Hide This Action
According to many analysts, if this action is executed, the conflict between the U.S. and Russia would escalate to the point where an international crisis could be the most probable scenario. Although some strategists believe that the cyber operation might not be true, arguing that the CIA wouldn't announce a covert operation, the former agency deputy director thinks otherwise.
"Physical attacks on networks is not something the U.S. wants to do because we don't want to set a precedent for other countries to do it as well, including against us. My own view is that our response shouldn't be covert - it should be overt, for everybody to see," former CIA deputy director Michael Morell told said.
