U.S. President Barack Obama will issue an executive order Monday, April 23 that will allow U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, from cellphone tracking to Internet monitoring, to help carry out grave human rights abuses, The Washington Post said.
Obama’s executive order, which he will announce during a Monday speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, is an acknowledgment of those dangers and of the need to adapt American national security policy to a world being remade rapidly by technology, according to senior administration officials familiar with the plans. Although the order is designed to target companies and individuals assisting the governments of Iran and Syria, they said, future executive orders could name others aiding other countries through technology in crackdowns on dissent.
According to the report, to demonstrate the priority he places on genocide prevention, Obama will use the roughly 20-minute address to reveal that he has asked for the first-ever National Intelligence Estimate – the consensus view of all U.S. intelligence agencies – appraising the potential for mass killings in countries around the world and their implication for U.S. interests.
The president will also announce a set of U.S. development “challenge” grants designed to encourage technology companies to develop new ways to help residents in countries vulnerable to mass killings better detect and quickly alert others to impending dangers. And he will unveil a high-level government panel to serve as a clearinghouse for real-time intelligence, policymaking and other issues related to mass killing.
