With their latest leaks, seemingly timed to help Donald Trump while he’s under fire:
The documents not only describe these programs in some detail, but also provide step-by-step instructions on how to create and install the software or devices. WikiLeaks’ introduction, which summarizes the gist of these documents, criticizes the CIA for creating these malware programs, noting that once they’re out in the world, they can spread and be exploited by other users, including criminals. The irony is that, by providing the working papers for these programs, WikiLeaks has made that task much easier.
Again, there is nothing in these documents, nothing even in the WikiLeaks introduction, to suggest that the CIA uses any of these devices to spy on American citizens. Assuming that is the case, there is nothing improper about any of these programs. This is what spy agencies do: They spy. And in an age when information is stored or transmitted on digital devices, they spy on those digital devices.
The WikiLeaks documents are likely to have three effects: They will blow legitimate U.S. cyberintelligence operations; they will instruct other spy agencies, criminals, and mischief-makers on how to do what the CIA does; and they will provide yet another propaganda victory for Russia.
At a moment when nearly everyone is criticizing Russia for hacking the U.S. presidential election, the Russians can point to these documents and say, “See? The Americans do this, too.” It’s true that U.S. intelligence agencies have been hacking for decades, longer than the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, Israelis, French, and others have been hacking. The process described in these documents—implanting devices or malware inside consumer electronics, then triggering those devices or tracking the malware—is also nothing new.
