Has U.S. intelligence been irreparably
damaged by the release of Vault 7, to the point where it puts America and it’s
operations at risk?
Well, to a certain extent, yes. But that’s
only a problem if you think the CIA was targeting and manipulating the right
people and entities.
You have probably heard by now of the
Wikileaks release
of Vault 7, a CIA arsenal of cyber weapons including viruses and malware. The
capabilities the CIA has been utilizing include taking over smart TV’s and
smartphones to use their microphones and control their operations. The CIA can
also get around popular encrypted messaging services like Whatsapp and
Signal if they are used on an infected phone.
Among the list of possible targets of the
collection are ‘Asset’, ‘Liason Asset’, ‘System Administrator’, ‘Foreign
Information Operations’, ‘Foreign Intelligence Agencies’ and ‘Foreign
Government Entities’. Notably absent is any reference to extremists or
transnational criminals.
Emphasis added. Basically, this release
confirmed everything we had already assumed was being done by the CIA and other
intelligence agencies. The interesting part is how the CIA used these
espionage tools.
As Wikileaks noted, the CIA did not seem
especially interested in ISIS, or drug cartels.
But the French Election did interest the CIA.
We know they monitored the candidates to intercept
communications. The CIA was especially interested in the prospects of French
economic growth, specifically which candidates would follow “the German model
of export-led growth.”
What does that say about the faltering
French economy under Francois Hollande?
Exports have been shaky at best, with large
differences month to month. Unemployment is up over 10%, and economic growth
has failed to meet expectations.
So in addition to spying on the candidates,
did the CIA use their cyber weapons to influence the election?
What is the Media Spinning About Vault 7?
The breach could undermine the CIA’s
ability to carry out key parts of its mission, from targeting the Islamic State
and other terrorist networks to penetrating the computer defenses of
sophisticated cyber-adversaries including Russia, China and Iran, former
officials and tech specialists said.
“Any exposure of these tools is going to
cause grave if not irreparable damage to the ability of our intelligence
agencies to conduct our mission,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official
said. -Washington Post
But we just got a glimpse into that
mission. The CIA mission seems to be controlling the world economy and choosing
who will win elections of foreign governments. Where is the focus on Isis,
China, and Iran coming from? The leaked documents specifically mention 10,000
targets from North America, Europe, and South America.
So really the leak will do damage to the
CIA’s mission, but the media is pretending the CIA has a different mission. The
media is still pretending the CIA first and foremost keeps America safe when in
reality it is clearly more interested in exerting influence around the globe.
Other outlets like The Guardian sought to
assuage fears that any one of us has been targeted. They say the CIA was saving
their technology for high-stakes investigation, lest it be discovered and the
technology updated to stop such hacks. They won’t hack little guys like
us!
Matt Blaze suggested a way steer clear
of the hacking tools, “Don’t become a CIA target.”
And I think that says a lot. The fact is,
the CIA can target whoever they want for whatever reason they want. How much–or
how little–does it take to become a CIA target?
Do those exercising the right to free
speech or freedom of the press run the risk of becoming targets… or have they
already?
The Take-Away
Basically, this confirms what were already
the highly suspected capabilities of the CIA. It is really not surprising that
they had these cyber weapons and not a shock that they were less interested in
using them to stop terrorists than to influence elections.
The media’s response is typical; pretend
that the leak will hurt the United States, and make us more vulnerable to
terrorists. This, despite the fact that the CIA was clearly not focused on
terrorism.
In reality, it is the CIA creating and
disseminating these weapons in a disorganized insecure way that makes us all
more vulnerable to whoever’s hands the cyber weapons have fallen into. We have
been less safe since the CIA built the hacking arsenal.
The information coming to public light
might make the CIA less effective in their goals, which does not necessarily
make us less safe–depending on who you are, it could make you safer.
That is a big part of this story, that
advanced hacking tools are now widely available for basically any organization
in the world to use. So it isn’t just the CIA that might be listening into your
phone’s microphone, or watching you through the camera.
It is beneficial to get confirmation
of the tactics employed by the CIA and open up a public discussion on the
issue. Now at least when we talk about these things it isn’t some “conspiracy
theory” but confirmed hacking and spying practices of the U.S. government.
Which also brings up more questions about
sketchy incidents like the death of investigative reporter Michael Hastings.
Vault 7 confirmed the CIA’s interest in
taking over and controlling vehicles. Michael Hastings died in a strange and
mysterious car accident.
He was preparing a report on then-CIA
Director Brennan’s involvement in sanitizing Obama’s passport records. Hastings
died when his car hit a tree and exploded, just three months after Brennan
became head of the CIA.
