In the presidential directive, the criteria for offensive cyber operations in the directive is not limited to retaliatory action but vaguely framed as advancing "US national objectives around the world".
Asked about the stepping up of US offensive capabilities outlined in the directive, a senior administration official said: "Once humans develop the capacity to build boats, we build navies.
The trigger was a widely circulated party directive that urged an offensive against liberal political ideas and values.
Its third attack in a week on the city came as Chadian forces launched a winning offensive, acting on an African Union directive for Nigeria's neighbours to help fight the spreading Islamic uprising by Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram extremists.
From there, the day after the match concluded, the CDC announced, via a press release, that Overton had incurred a level one breach of the directives – "using language that is obscene, offensive or insulting and/or making an obscene gesture".
"Our presidential directive effectively reversed those restraints, effectively enabling offensive cyber-operations through the relevant departments," said John Bolton, national security advisor, to reporters.
In my view, the two most overlooked stories we've published are the one you reference (about the secret presidential directive signed by Obama to prepare for offensive cyber operations: essentially the militarization of the internet) and the document we recently published showing NSA gives unminimized commuincations [sic] of US persons to Israel with very few binding safeguards.
The directive makes multiple references to the use of offensive cyber attacks by the US military.
But in bureaucratic language, the directive indicates the government believes cyberattacks, known as "Offensive Cyber Effects Operations," or OCEO, are becoming common and that cyberwar could be just around the corner.
The directive ordered the government to "identify potential targets of national importance" against which offensive cyberoperations "can offer a favorable balance of effectiveness and risk as compared with other instruments of national power".
The administration published some declassified talking points from the directive in January 2013, but those did not mention the stepping up of America's offensive capability and the drawing up of a target list.
