Hegseth directs military to defend US midterm elections from foreign interference

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. military to help protect the midterm elections from outside meddling, the Pentagon announced Monday. His memo, signed about five weeks before voting, tasks Cyber Command and support agencies with using intelligence and cyber resources against foreign efforts aimed at American democracy, while partnering with the Department of Homeland Security on threats to the infrastructure behind elections, according to CNN.

Much of this echoes work done before Donald Trump returned to the presidency in 2025; weeks before the 2024 election, Cyber Command hackers reportedly disrupted Russian trolls spreading false information to American voters. Since then, the administration has dismantled or shrunk several FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence units meant to counter foreign influence operations, and Trump has kept questioning past intelligence on Russian and Chinese meddling, prompting widespread concern among current and former security officials.

That concern deepened in April, when Gen. Joshua M. Rudd, who now leads Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told lawmakers he did not know whether a dedicated Election Security Group had been set up for the midterms. Since 2020, that group has let NSA and Cyber Command staff swap intelligence and counter Russian, Iranian and other online agitators. Its role in Hegseth's order is unclear. Andrew Schoka, who worked at Cyber Command in 2020, told CNN the group's work takes months of planning, so starting now would limit its effect before the midterms.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN →