The White House wants corporate cyber corsairs to board criminal networks for profit, with Trump waving the flag from the pier.
According to the Financial Times, the US is recruiting corporate America to fight cybercrime, creating a possible payday for US tech outfits and a rum-soaked win for MAGA privateer fanboys.
In a memo released late on Wednesday, the White House told federal agencies to bring in “the ingenuity of the private sector” against global threats. It ordered them to create a programme that would allow vetted companies to launch cyberattacks against criminal organisations.
In some cases, private firms could get government permission to manipulate, disrupt or physically destroy cyber networks.
The memo says vetted groups would have to post a $1mn bond, which they would lose if they went rogue. Trump’s answer to a bill of marque is a deposit scheme for buccaneers.
The push comes as senior figures in Trump’s MAGA movement call for a revival of privateering. Utah senator Mike Lee last year introduced legislation to bring back “letters of marque and reprisal”, the old constitutional wheeze allowing civilian ship owners to attack British merchant vessels during the American Revolutionary War.
The plan is to give today’s cyber lads a modern parchment, a tricorn hat and a nod towards the server room. The privateer wars are being rebooted without the sea shanties, although some vendors will surely invoice for those.
The scheme has been privately backed by some US tech groups, including some run by Trump donors, which could pick up juicy contracts. Google and Microsoft have both talked up their readiness to help the government fight cybercrime.
The timing is handy, as the Trump administration has gutted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which protects critical systems from cyber threats. Having chopped holes in the hull, the White House now seems surprised the bilge is coming in.
Those cuts have led some in the US intelligence community to argue for more private-sector muscle, including AI companies, to counter foreign hacking groups. Many of those groups are state-sponsored or quietly tolerated by America’s rivals.
Previous administrations had discussed using private companies, but Bull Moose Project president Aiden Buzzetti called the presidential memo “seismic” for “the people who understand the risks these new technologies pose”.
“The capabilities of non-state actors are rapidly expanding and private actors often have more capabilities and interesting tools than the government does”.
Buzzetti said he expected large tech groups and AI labs to join the programme. He said smaller groups already helping the government with intelligence gathering could be among the winners.
Not every company is keen to climb aboard Trump’s cyber galleon. Some fear they lack proper legal cover and could face retaliation from nation states with bigger cannons.
Cyber security researcher Lukasz Olejnik said the Trump memo “does not mean a general licence for lethal cyber attacks”. Still, the parrot on his shoulder would have plenty to squawk about.
Olejnik warned that “attacks can spill across borders or hit state-linked systems, raising the risk of interstate escalation and conflict”.
