Katie Bo Lillis,Sean Lyngaas,Kylie Atwood
President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro waves following a press conference at Hotel Melia Caracas in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 1, 2025. Jesus Vargas/Getty Images/File
In the final year of President Donald Trump’s first administration, the CIA carried out a clandestine cyberattack against the Venezuelan government, disabling the computer network used by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s intelligence service.
The attack, described to CNN by four sources familiar with the operation, was perfectly successful.
It was also a throwaway, those sources said — an effort by the CIA to satisfy the president’s ambitions to do something about Venezuela and avoid taking riskier, more direct action against Caracas.
The previously unreported episode was one of a series of moves that national security officials took to placate Trump during his first term in office as he sought to oust Maduro, covert maneuvering that came to deeply frustrate the president and his team as the Venezuelan strong man remained stubbornly in power.
It helps underscore the president’s public determination to take a maximalist approach toward Venezuela in his second term.
Since the summer, the US has amassed a huge military force in the region, including roughly 10,000 troops, with an aircraft carrier now en route from Europe. The president has said in recent weeks that the US is considering direct strikes on Venezuelan territory, and that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert activity there. A series of what the military termed “attack demonstration” flights off the Venezuelan coast by US bombers last week were an even more visible indicator of the US’ intentions.
Although the administration has characterized the mission for all those military assets as a counternarcotics effort, the size and scope of the buildup has raised the specter of a possible regime-change operation.
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