CIA is looking to expand its cyber espionage capabilities as part of a bigger plan of restructuring the service defined until now by the human spy work. According to U.S. officials, the cyber capabilities will be increased in almost every category of operations, from recruiting informants to fighting adversaries such as ISIS.
According to current and former officials cited by The Washington Post, CIA Director John O. Brennan has even considered creating a new cyber directorate. One of the sources explained that Brennan is trying to update the agency because it is no longer possible to separate the digital world people operate in from the human intelligence.
Parts of the plan are expected to be implemented this month, after Brennan recently met with senior members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
The head of CIA was saying last year that he became “increasingly convinced that the time has come to take a fresh look at how we are organized” and now it is believed that he will replicate the model of the Counterterrorism Center, which grew in size and influence since the September 11 attacks. But former officials said the new plans has caused generational friction within the CIA, with old officers resisting changes. The head of the clandestine service even resigned in part because of Brennan’s plan, according to the same sources.
CIA already has substantial cyber capabilities such as the Information Operations Center, which extracts information from stolen laptops and planting surveillance devices, or the Open Source Center, an intelligence unit created to check available data from Twitter feeds, Facebook postings or Web forums. Still limited compared to the NSA, such capabilities would be more pervasive in the new organization.
Former officials also explained that the changes are needed because cyber is now part of every mission. This means that the secrets that were once obtained from an informant or in a safe house are now kept in clouds of digital transmissions. For example, the source says a Russian spy might be recruited now by manipulating someone’s e-mail, reading someone’s e-mail, and tracking the whereabouts of the FSB.