"In his first 18 months in office, General Nakasone has raced to bolster Cyber Commands authority to act preemptively and its preparations to respond to attacks. New, classified directives given to him by Mr. Trump, and built upon by Congress, allow Cyber Command to place 'implants' of malicious software inside foreign networks without lengthy approval processes that run up to the president. Congress has called such efforts part of 'traditional military authority.' Iran has reportedly been a major target no surprise, since General Nakasone was a key player in designing a plan called Nitro Zeus to shut down Tehran and other Iranian cities in the event of a war. The idea was to put together an attack so devastating that Iran might surrender without a shot being fired. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/world/middleeast/iran-cyberattack-us.html