With Americans heading to the polls Tuesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has ordered the military’s intelligence and cyber agencies to treat foreign threats to the 2026 midterm elections as a top priority, calling election security a “no-fail mission,” Fox News Digital reported Monday.
Every authorized asset
The directive, issued in September, goes well beyond U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. It is addressed to the entire Defense Intelligence Enterprise, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and instructs them to “mobilize every authorized asset, capability, and partnership” against foreign election threats.
Under the order, military intelligence agencies are directed to collect and analyze intelligence on foreign threats to the vote, while Cyber Command is told to use its existing authorities and capabilities to counter potential foreign cyber activity in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
What it means in practice
In practice, that can mean identifying foreign hackers or influence operations overseas, warning civilian agencies about threats aimed at U.S. targets and, when authorized, Cyber Command taking action against the foreign actors or infrastructure behind them.
The military’s role largely stops at the border. State and local officials run elections, while the FBI and Homeland Security handle the domestic side. The order does not publicly grant new authorities or create a new election-security organization. Instead, it reinforces a mission the Pentagon has increasingly treated as a permanent responsibility, and the Department of War declined to share further details on how it is being carried out.
A decade after Russiagate
Scrutiny of foreign meddling has run high ever since the 2016 election that first put President Trump in the White House. Cyber Command and the NSA formed a “Russia Small Group” ahead of the 2018 midterms, which later became a joint Election Security Group. In 2022, then-Cyber Command chief Gen. Paul Nakasone described election security as an “enduring, no-fail mission,” the same language Hegseth is now using.
Gen. Joshua Rudd, the current head of Cyber Command and the NSA, told lawmakers in April that foreign interference was “reasonable to expect” and said his command was “postured and ready to support as required or tasked.”
No sign of attacks on the vote itself
U.S. intelligence officials say they have seen no evidence that a foreign adversary has tried to interfere with voting machines, physical election infrastructure or the counting of votes ahead of Tuesday. Officials continue to track influence efforts from Russia, China and Iran, with Russia remaining the most active, and lawmakers briefed last month said Russia was using disinformation to target candidates and undermine confidence in the election.
Polls open Tuesday, Nov. 3, with control of the House and Senate on the line.