Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is not playing games with America’s midterms.
A Sept. 22 memorandum directs U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the rest of the Defense Intelligence Enterprise to prioritize Department of War intelligence and cyber power against foreign actors trying to meddle in the 2026 elections.
The subject line is blunt: “Countering Foreign Threats to 2026 Elections.”
Hegseth writes that as the country approaches this election cycle, “we must prove that we can and will protect the integrity of our democratic processes from any threat.”
He quotes President Trump directly: “free and fair elections are the foundation of our republic” and “no country can be great without fair elections.”
Then he gives the order.
Cyber Command and 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.”
The Defense Intelligence Enterprise is directed to “execute collection and production on foreign threats to our elections, in accordance with the law, regulation, Executive direction, and DoW policies and directives.”
Cyber Command is further ordered to use its existing authorities, capabilities, and competencies — in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security — “to counter potential cyber threats from foreign actors targeting our elections.”
And he does not leave it as a suggestion. Hegseth tells the entire DIE to “mobilize every authorized asset, capability, and partnership under your command to defend our election infrastructure from foreign malign influence” so that “every lawful voter can cast their ballot free from foreign intimidation, coercion, or fear.”
“Assuring and protecting this ability is a no-fail mission,” the Secretary writes.
That is the sound of a War Department that still remembers who the enemy is.
The Department of War made the directive public on Monday.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said Cyber Command and defense intelligence teams will work “in lockstep with federal, state, and local partners” to “defend the integrity of America’s voting systems, expose foreign malign influence, and ensure our democratic processes remain secure from external manipulation while protecting the fundamental freedoms of the American people.”
Gen. Joshua M. Rudd, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the NSA, added that the Command and the Agency “regularly counter actions by malicious foreign cyber actors including those with the intent to interfere with our democratic process.”
The Hill reports the memo was made public Monday and instructs Cyber Command to use existing authorities with DHS against “potential cyber threats from foreign actors targeting our elections.”
Axios notes the order rests on President Trump’s 2025 directive, Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections, and follows the President’s July address accusing the Chinese Communist Party of interfering in the 2020 election, a charge Beijing denied, as Beijing always does.
Axios also says the effort will lean on the most advanced artificial intelligence capabilities the department has fielded to date.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine already told Democrat Sen. Elissa Slotkin the Joint Force has “no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections,” as The Gateway Pundit reported.
The target in Hegseth’s memo is foreign malign influence, the kind of cyber operations, influence campaigns, and infrastructure attacks Washington spent years pretending were a “both sides” talking point while China, Iran, and others probed the system.
Hegseth has been pounding this drum for weeks. The Gateway Pundit reported last week that the Secretary of War urged commanders to get service members registered after roughly 300,000 warriors sat out 2024, more ballots than were cast in Detroit, Boston, Milwaukee, or Seattle.
He pointed them to FVAP.gov and said the War Department exists to protect the freedom “to decide who leads us.” Now he is putting the department’s cyber sword behind the same principle.
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