President Barack Obama asked the Department of Defense last June to perform a cyberattack, according to the nonprofit organization Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
The U.S. Air Force declassified a 15-page policy directive (PDF) last week, containing a single sentence that the FAS believes is enough to prove Obama ordered the military to carry out an aggressive operation in cyberspace, though further details are still classified.
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Below is the relevant quote from the document, released by the Air Force on March 5:
"Classified processes governing [command and control] of [Air Force] offensive and defensive cyberspace operations conducted by [Air Force] Cyber Mission Forces are addressed in a classified [Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff] Execute Order (title classified) issued on 21 Jun 13."
The text is full of jargon, but reveals two important details, according to the FAS.
First is the word "offensive." This means whatever the U.S. was doing during this operation, it involved more than defending the country from cyberattacks.
The second is the phrase "execute order." An execute order, according to the Department of Defense, is "an order issued by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, at the direction of the secretary of defense, to implement a decision by the president (PDF) to initiate military operations." The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is America's highest-ranking military officer.
This means the president asked the Pentagon to carry out an online "military operation." Military operations have several definitions (PDF) — from humanitarian efforts to full-scale war — but the word "offensive" seems to rule out any peaceful endeavor.
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