Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed U.S. Cyber Command and the Pentagon's combat support agencies to focus intelligence and cyber tools on foreign efforts to interfere in the 2026 midterm elections.
The Department of War (DoW) memo circulated Monday and dated Sept. 22 was addressed to the Cyber Command chief and the directors of the National Security Agency (NSA), the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
"In America, the people rule - and we must ensure that their voice remains sovereign, secure, and entirely undiluted," the memo reads.
Hegseth wrote that secure voting plays a critical role "in sustaining the strength of our democratic system," and that the department "will effectively wield its capabilities to protect and uphold the reliability of America's voting mechanisms against external manipulation and disruption from foreign actors."
Cyber Command and the combat support agency directors "will prioritize the use of DoW intelligence and cyber capabilities to ensure foreign actors do not meddle in our democratic systems," the memo says.
Hegseth also ordered the Defense Intelligence Enterprise to "execute collection and production on foreign threats to our elections, in accordance with the law, regulation, Executive direction, and DoW policies and directives."
He told Cyber Command to use its authority "in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to counter potential cyber threats from foreign actors targeting our electi
