Cyber operationsThe CIA bolsters cyber operations

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is planning to join the growing list of U.S. intelligence and security agencies which have redefined their missions to include cyber operations — in the CIA’s case, cyber espionage. Current and former agency officials say the new effort will be part of the broad restructuring of an intelligence service long defined by its human spy work. The shift also reflects the increasing role cyber plays in intelligence gathering, with allies and adversaries relying on smartphones, social media, and other technologies to communicate. To recruit a Russian spy, “you may need to manipulate someone’s email, read someone’s email, and track the whereabouts of the FSB,” a former official said, referring to Russian security service. “Cyber is now part of every mission. It’s not a specialized, boutique thing.”

CIA director John Brennan plans to explore and utilize cyber capabilities in almost every category of the agency’s operations, from identifying foreign officials and recruiting CIA informants, to confirming the identities of targets of drone strikes or penetrating enemies like the Islamic State who have successfully used the Internet to spread their ideology. “Brennan is trying to update the agency to make sure it is prepared to tackle the challenges in front of it,” said an official familiar with the reorganization plan. “I just don’t think you can separate the digital world people operate in from the human intelligence” mission that is the CIA’s traditional domain.

ThePittsburgh Tribune‑Review notes that the embracement of cyber capabilities is expected to break down boundaries between the CIA’s operations and analysis directorates, creating hybrid “centers” that combine several CIA disciplines. Brennan recently met with the four highest-ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence panels to outline his proposed agenda. Officials say he plans to begin implementing aspects of the plan this month. In a notice to agency staff last year, Brennan wrote that he had become “increasingly convinced that the time has come to take a fresh look at how we are organized.”

The CIA already operates a cyber initiative as part of its Information Operations Center, which handles assignments such as extracting information from stolen laptops and planting surveillance devices. The agency also oversees the Open Source Center, an intelligence unit formed in 2005 to scan publicly available data including social media postings and web forums, where terror groups post material. Brennan wants the CIA to utilize those specialized cyber tools throughout the agency.

Officials familiar with Brennan’s plan say it has caused generational friction within the CIA, with veteran staff resisting changes that younger officers have been more eager to accept. Overall, the move will be well received, officials say. It is “entirely appropriate, even overdue,” said Stephen Slick, a former CIA official who directs the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “Advances in digital technology are having a revolutionary impact on the intelligence business, and it’s important for CIA to adapt its collection and covert action missions to account for the new opportunities and dangers.”