UK must beef up jihadi cyber defences says ex-CIA chief

Former CIA director General David Petraeus yesterday warned Britain must beef up its cyber defences to stop extremists acquiring virtual weapons of mass destruction.

The ex-intelligence chief, one of the most senior post-9/11 US military commanders, said one day soon there would be a ‘stake through the heart’ of Islamic State’s leader.

But he warned the West could not just play ‘whack a mole’ when it came to defeating the group online, as he slapped down web giants for not doing enough to stop terror.

 

David Petraeus said the West musn’t play ‘whack a mole’ when it came to defeating ISIS online and also criticised web giants for not doing enough to stop terror

He urged the UK to step up its cyber capabilities, as well as increase its Special Forces troops and maintain its ability to send a division to war.

Gen Petreaus said in a major speech in London: ‘We will defeat the (IS) army. At some point we will put through a stake through the heart of Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State.

‘We are not going to be able to put a stake through the heart of the virtual caliphate, this is ideology that is being propagated on the internet.’

He noted that only recently had Facebook been persuaded to remove video content spreading hatred by a known terrorist inspiring extremism.

‘It is clearly incumbent on social media platforms, it is clearly incumbent on internet service providers and others to take much greater steps to eliminate this’ he said.

Former CIA director, General David Petraeus speaking at RUSI in 2010. He said his greatest fear was what extremists could do in cyber space

Former CIA director, General David Petraeus speaking at RUSI in 2010. He said his greatest fear was what extremists could do in cyber space

Gen Petraeus retired from the military just days ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the attacks of 11 September, to take on his role as the head of the CIA.

He resigned as director in 2012 after acknowledging he had an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, who was his biographer.

Speaking yesterday at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, he said his greatest worry was what extremists could do in cyber space.

He said: ‘The one that worries me most is extremists in cyber space, keep in mind that these are groups that have some individuals who are willing to blow themselves on the battlefield.

‘In cyber space, what keeps an extremist group that gets the cyber equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction from hitting the key.’

He said by virtual WMDs, he meant the ‘ability to take down the electrical grid of the north eastern United States and keep it down’.

He warned: ‘That would be catastrophic and yet I don’t know how you would deter that if they ever got that capability.

‘So you’ve clearly got to up the defensive game.’ He said this meant the West should ‘work feverishly’ to detect developments and interference.

Petreaus said 'some point we will put through a stake through the heart' of ISIS leadr Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) but defeating the 'virtual caliphate' will be harder 

Petreaus said ‘some point we will put through a stake through the heart’ of ISIS leadr Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) but defeating the ‘virtual caliphate’ will be harder 

Asked what the UK needed to focus on, he said Britain must maintain a deployable division, increase its cyber capabilities and also increase elite troop numbers.

He said: ‘It seems to me that strategic effect comes from capabilities that are truly employable, and really matter.

‘I would note for example that the size of the army to be credible in that regard, to have strategic affect the army has to have at the very least a deployable division.’

He added while also noting ‘the need to increase the capability again in cyber space, the new battlefield domain, to add to the already very considerable special operations capabilities…’

The former top US military commander in Afghanistan said the war against IS would be a ‘generational struggle’ in which the West could not just ‘plant a flag, and have a victory parade’.

He said: ‘This is a generational struggle, this is not a fight of a decade or a few years. We are not going to take a hill, plant a flag, and have a victory parade.

‘You have to go after them wherever they are. We cannot play whack a mole. You have to whack all the moles, all the time, wherever they might be.

‘You have to try to prevent ungoverned or inadequately governed spaces emerging in the Muslim world.’   

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