Hegseth Orders Pentagon To Combat Foreign Election Interference

War Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military’s leading cyber and intelligence organizations to prioritize defending the November midterm elections against foreign interference, calling the assignment a “no-fail mission.”

The order places election security high on the national defense agenda as Americans prepare to vote November 3, with an emphasis on detecting foreign threats and disrupting attempts to penetrate or manipulate election systems.

Hegseth outlined the directive in a one-page memorandum dated September 22 and publicly disclosed Monday. Titled “Countering Foreign Threats to 2026 Elections,” it was addressed to the commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the directors of the National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

“Commander U.S. Cyber Command and the Directors of the Combat Support Agencies will prioritize the use of DoW intelligence and cyber capabilities to ensure foreign actors do not meddle in our democratic systems,” Hegseth wrote.

The memorandum instructs the broader Defense Intelligence Enterprise to collect and assess information about foreign election threats while acting “in accordance with the law, regulation, Executive direction, and DoW policies and directives.”

It also directs Cyber Command to coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security and employ its existing authorities and cyber capabilities against potential foreign attacks on American election infrastructure.

“I am therefore directing the entire Defense Intelligence Enterprise to mobilize every authorized asset, capability, and partnership under your command to defend our election infrastructure from foreign malign influence,” Hegseth wrote.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described the effort as a coordinated defense of the country’s electoral institutions, involving partners at every level of government.

“Free and fair elections are the foundation of our republic,” Parnell said. “By working in lockstep with federal, state and local partners, U.S. Cyber Command and our defense intelligence teams will defend the integrity of America’s voting systems, expose foreign malign influence, and ensure our democratic processes remain secure from external manipulation.”

The directive focuses on foreign intelligence and cyber operations. It does not order troops to polling stations, authorize military personnel to handle ballots or transfer responsibility for running elections to the Pentagon.

State and local authorities retain their election-administration duties, including managing polling places, maintaining voter-registration systems, counting votes and certifying results.

That division of responsibility is central to the mission: military agencies are being directed to confront external threats while election officials continue administering the vote.

The use of military cyber capabilities to protect federal elections also has an established precedent.

Since 2018, Cyber Command and the NSA have partnered during every major federal election cycle through an Election Security Group intended to identify and disrupt foreign interference efforts.

During the 2022 midterms, under then-President Joe Biden, the agencies combined intelligence collection with offensive cyber capabilities to address threats originating abroad.

Under that model, the NSA gathers foreign intelligence about possible operations and shares relevant findings with domestic agencies. Cyber Command can potentially take action against foreign hackers or the infrastructure supporting their activities.

Whether the formal Election Security Group has been reestablished for the 2026 cycle remains unresolved.

Gen. Joshua Rudd, who heads both Cyber Command and the NSA, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in April that he could not confirm whether the joint operation had been established for this year’s elections.

Hegseth’s memorandum does not clarify its status. Instead, it gives the agencies a direct instruction to prioritize the mission using their authorized capabilities and partnerships.

The document also leaves operational details undisclosed.

It does not name a specific foreign government as an immediate threat, announce new personnel or funding, or describe particular offensive cyber missions.

The broader threat, however, has occupied U.S. intelligence and security officials across multiple election cycles.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia carried out an extensive influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election. In subsequent years, American officials have tracked election-related activity associated with Russia, China and Iran.

During the 2022 midterms, authorities detected cyber activity directed at election infrastructure by actors linked to China, along with activity claimed by pro-Russian hackers.

Government-affiliated actors from Russia, Iran and China also targeted political campaign infrastructure.

Those incidents demonstrated persistent foreign interest in American elections, but the government’s subsequent assessment distinguished attempted interference from an actual compromise of voting.

A Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security review found no evidence that the identified activities prevented people from voting, altered votes, interfered with vote counting or compromised ballots or voter-registration information.

That finding provides important context for the current effort. Protecting election systems requires identifying and responding to threats without treating every attempted intrusion or influence operation as proof that voting results have been affected.

Artificial intelligence has added another dimension to the security challenge, further complicating efforts to identify foreign manipulation.

Hegseth’s order makes the administration’s priority explicit: the military’s authorized intelligence and cyber resources are to help protect the election from outside interference, with coordination across federal, state and local government.

The memorandum establishes that direction without publicly detailing how agencies will carry it out in the weeks remaining before Election Day.