Obama Declares ‘National Emergency,’ Will Treat Hackers as Terrorists

Executive Order Imposes Dramatic Sanctions on Suspects

A new executive order signed by President Obama today declared a “national emergency” related to sabotage attacks and commercial espionage on the Internet, and empowered the Treasury Department to impose massive sanctions on foreign suspects.

The order effectively brings foreign hackers and cyber spies into the same realm once reserved purely for terrorists and nuclear arms smugglers, a move the White House conceded was “broad brush.”

At the same time, officials insisted the move was necessary because of a “policy gap,” and that the Treasury Department needed to be empowered to sanction random hackers over future attacks.

Not that it’s only future attacks, as officials conceded likewise that this is an ex post facto law, which will empower the Treasury Department to impose sanctions on people accused of hacking attacks years ago.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.