The US is enlisting the help of corporate America to fight cyber crime, a potential windfall for US tech groups and a victory for proponents of privateering within Donald Trump’s Maga coalition. In a memo released late on Wednesday, the White House directed federal agencies to incorporate “the ingenuity of the private sector” in tackling global threats and establish a programme under which vetted companies would be allowed to conduct cyber attacks against criminal organisations. In some scenarios, private corporations would be given permission to manipulate, disrupt or physically destroy cyber networks, the memo states. Vetted groups would be asked to post a $1mn bond that would be forfeited if they went rogue.

The drive to enlist private companies comes as senior figures call for the revival of privateering. Utah senator Mike Lee last year introduced legislation to reintroduce “letters of marque and reprisal”, which authorised civilian ship owners to attack British vessels during the Revolutionary War. The initiative has been privately supported by some US tech groups, including Google and Microsoft, which have touted their readiness to help. The move also comes as the Trump administration drastically reduced the size of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), leading members of the intelligence community to argue for enlisting more private capacity, including AI companies.

“The United States just revived privateering for the digital age,” said Jeffrey Gray, a CISA veteran. Some companies have been reluctant, fearing legal protections and retaliation. Security researcher Lukasz Olejnik warned that “attacks can spill across borders or hit state-linked systems, raising the risk of interstate escalation and conflict.”