John McAfee President manifesto cyberwar
McAfee confirmed his presidential bid in September with the campaign slogan 'privacy, freedom, and technology' John McAfee

US presidential candidate John McAfee has released his manifesto for the 2016 elections, revealing policies that include opening US borders to immigrants, ending the War on Drugs, and abandoning the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) in its entirety. McAfee, who founded the antivirus software company of the same name, confirmed his unlikely presidential bid – as a new third party candidate – earlier this month with the campaign slogan "privacy, freedom, and technology".

The 1,700-word manifesto lists 10 key policy areas: foreign policy, War on Drugs, immigration, taxation, education, welfare, TSA, economy, cyber awareness and the FDA (Food and Drug Agency). McAfee claims there is "much, much more" to be added but what is described lays out his political leanings and intents.

One of the first acts of a McAfee administration would be the wholesale decriminalisation of marijuana, while possession of any chemical substance intended for self administration would be considered "at most a misdemeanor". Should McAfee be elected in 2016, this policy, combined with his intention to open US borders, would likely face strong opposition from conservative Republicans.

The antivirus mogul, who is also a regular columnist for IBTimes UK, revealed last week that he believed the world is facing a cyber war more dangerous than nuclear devastation: "The next major war will not be fought with guns, ships and missiles. It will be a cyber war with far more devastation than could possibly be achieved by our combined nuclear arsenals.," he says.

In order to address this, McAfee suggested that the US follows in the footsteps of Australia by setting up a cabinet level position to bring cyber awareness and cyber security education into the government. According to McAfee, the recent creation of Australia's Digital Transformation Office revealed how far behind the US was lagging in this area.

"This should shame us," McAfee's manifesto states. "A country with one tenth our population and nowhere near the global leadership position that the US aspires to recognises that they cannot survive without cyber awareness within its leadership.

"We must look hard at this example and ask ourselves how we got to the tragic situation of cyber illiteracy that we now occupy. If this does not immediately change we will be relegated to the bottom ranks of important nations and we will in every respect wiped out by more astute nations."