The director of the CIA called cyber “the new frontier” on Thursday, warning senators that the U.S. could “face the equivalent of a 9/11 in the cyberdomain.”
With a backdrop of the Orlando massacre, CIA Director John Brennan testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee on cyberthreats that spark the “lone-wolf” attacks as seen in Orlando, San Bernardino and Boston.
Social media applications such as Twitter, Telegram and Tumblr allow terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State, to incite violent attacks around the world without government knowledge, according to Brennan.
“We haven’t been able to find a direct link between the Orlando shooter and terrorist organizations,” he added, saying the Orlando shooter could have used an encrypted application if he had communications with the Islamic State. The shooter pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a call to 911.
The CIA director said the Islamic State is adapting by relying more on guerrilla tactics and sympathizers abroad as they lose ground in Iraq and Syria. He noted the Islamic State has an estimated 18,000-22,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, down from 33,000 last year.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Burr, R-N.C, and Mark Warner, D-Va. expressed concerns over any government mandate to create a “backdoor” into encrypted communication systems. The U.S. is the largest web application provider and creating a backdoor will merely drive people to use foreign products, hurting U.S. security and economic preeminence, Warner said.
Brennan agreed on keeping privacy a priority, but said he doesn’t think the U.S. government is prepared to deal with future cyberthreats.
Data Miner, a data extraction application partly owned by Twitter, is the only company to have unrestricted access to all tweets. A few weeks ago, Data Miner’s CEO rescinded an agreement that allows the CIA access to unaltered social media information. Brennan commented that he is “disappointed that there isn’t as much cooperation” between intelligence agencies and the private sector.
The legislative battle over encrypted applications is sure to ramp up as terrorist organizations use it as an primary untraceable means of communication. “The Internet doesn’t respect sovereign boarders,” Brennan said.
