White House deletes “Canada = cyberterror” claim from much-anticipated report
The Obama administration has deleted an embarrassing piece of text from the president’s “60-day review” of cyber security. The report, released today, culminates a two-month study on the need for a cyber czar who would report directly to the White House, although perhaps not directly to the Computer-in-Chief himself.
The embarrassing text made its way into the report in its early stages, possibly typed by a staffer. Had it remained, the report would have warned the president that “U.S.-allied countries are in fact known to harbor terrorists who specialize in cyber operations that have destroyed billions of dollars of computing productivity over the years.”
The report goes on to say “A short list of countries with high-bandwidth links to the U.S. include allies such as Canada, which is known to be a haven for cyberterror operatives working to attack the United States. One such cyberterrorist, whose name is Michael Calce and who goes by the name ‘MafiaBoy,’ very nearly destroyed U.S. electronic commerce in 2000. Canada has refused over the years to extradite this individual to stand trial in America…”
An advisor to the president noticed the embarrassing text and ordered it redacted, a source tied to the report said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spokeswoman for the White House would only say “the President stands by the contents of the final report, not a draft containing content that may or may not have been added or deleted at some point.”