Since Donald Trump’s 2016 election and the ensuing Russia investigation, foreign interference and the security of U.S. elections have faced growing scrutiny.
A decade later, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon’s intelligence and cyber agencies to focus on preventing foreign adversaries from interfering in Tuesday’s midterm elections. In a directive issued in September, he called election security a “no-fail mission” and told the department’s intelligence agencies to make it a priority.
The order goes beyond the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. It directs the wider Defense Intelligence Enterprise, including agencies responsible for military and geospatial intelligence, to use every authorized resource and partnership to address foreign threats to elections.
The directive places some of the military’s most advanced intelligence capabilities behind a mission that has expanded since Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. It remains unclear, however, how much the order has changed the Pentagon’s existing work ahead of the vote. The Department of War did not provide further details about its implementation, and Cyber Command declined an interview request.
In practical terms, military intelligence agencies may identify foreign hackers or influence campaigns overseas and alert civilian agencies to threats aimed at the United States. When authorized, Cyber Command can also act against foreign operators or the infrastructure they use.
The military’s work is largely focused outside U.S. borders. State and local officials administer elections, while civilian agencies such as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security lead domestic security efforts.
The Pentagon’s election-security work predates Hegseth’s order. The NSA and Cyber Command have spent years monitoring and disrupting foreign threats around U.S. elections, including activity linked to Russian actors. Their current approach began taking shape before the 2018 midterms, when the agencies formed a “Russia Small Group” to focus on foreign interference. That effort later became a joint Election Security Group, combining the NSA’s intelligence work with Cyber Command’s ability to conduct operations against foreign cyber threats.
In 2022, then-Cyber Command and NSA chief Gen. Paul Nakasone described election security as an “enduring, no-fail mission,” a phrase Hegseth later echoed. After that year’s election, Nakasone said the military had conducted operations before and during the vote, focusing on understanding foreign adversaries and operating outside the United States.
The agencies also created an Election Security Group for the 2024 presidential election. It has been less clear whether that structure was brought back for this year’s midterms. In April, Gen. Joshua Rudd, who now leads Cyber Command and the NSA, told lawmakers foreign interference was reasonable to expect based on past activity. He said his command was ready to provide support if requested, but was unsure at the time whether the group had been reassembled.
Five months later, Hegseth sent his directive to the heads of Cyber Command, the NSA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. It calls on military intelligence agencies to gather and assess information about foreign election threats, and directs Cyber Command to use its existing authorities and capabilities to counter potential cyber activity in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
The order does not announce new powers or create a new election-security body. Instead, it reinforces a responsibility the military has increasingly treated as a lasting part of its work.
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 ballots ahead of Tuesday’s midterms. Rep. Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said last week that officials had seen nothing to change that assessment. He nevertheless urged Americans to stay alert to foreign disinformation, which can spread more easily with the help of artificial intelligence.
Officials continue to monitor influence campaigns linked to Russia, China and Iran. Russia remains the most active foreign influence threat, according to a report published Sunday. Such efforts can target voters and weaken trust in elections without ever touching voting equipment.
Lawmakers who received classified intelligence briefings last month said Russia was using disinformation to target candidates and undermine confidence in the election. They said China’s efforts were more narrowly aimed at candidates it considers hostile to Beijing.
Hegseth’s directive makes the overseas threat mission a priority across the broader military intelligence community. The Pentagon has not said whether that has brought additional staff or resources, or led to organizational changes before Election Day.
