CIA Boss, Confirms Agency Will Form Crypto-Focused Project

Current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns (photo: twitter)

JAKARTA - The current director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns said his predecessor at the government agency started a project focused on gathering intelligence about cryptocurrencies.

Asking a question about crypto at the Wall Street Journal CEO Board Summit on Monday, December 6, Burns said that the CIA wants to add expertise in cryptocurrencies and blockchain to its team of intelligence analysts in addition to communicating with industry experts.

He said challenges from the crypto space “could have a very big impact” in the United States given what he has seen in ransomware attacks.

“My predecessors started this,” Burns was quoted as saying by Cointelegraph. The action, possibly a reference to the actions of former CIA director David Cohen.

“[They] have put in motion a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrencies and are trying to look at second and third order ramifications as well and helping our colleagues in other parts of the US government to provide solid intelligence on what we're looking at as well,” added Burns.

He added that building such knowledge about crypto is an “important priority” for the Agency, and he plans to devote “resources and attention” to it.

The CIA director did not specify the direction the Agency plans to take to combat cyberattacks, but hinted it would aim to "get financial networks" for criminal groups that use digital currencies for ransom.

Burns, who took up the CIA director position last March, had seen hackers sue millions of crypto for an attack on the Colonial Pipeline system in May, but also a task force from the US government responded by recovering most of the lost funds.

Michael Morrell, former CIA director from 2012 to 2013, said “blockchain analytics is a very effective crime-fighting and intelligence-gathering tool,” which law enforcement agencies underutilize.

There is no definite term for CIA Director, meaning Burns is likely to serve in the Agency with the approval of US President, Joe Biden. At the time of publication, Biden had not announced his choice to fill the three vacant seats on the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors.