I mean isn't that in reality of actual usage defensive hacking though?

The US isn't waging aggressive offensive hacking wars against other countries beyond targeting weapons r&d. The same can't be said of Russia, China, etc.

The US does have such capabilities but has been far more restrained in the use of them than its enemies.

True, it's not like they use it for economical gain agains companies from allied countries. That would be bad right? * cough * Echelon * cough

I wasn't aware of this. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Exactly: Without defensive actions such as spying on top officials, who knows what rogue states like Germany would get up to...