IC Oversight & Policy — 2026-09-29

Defense Secretary Hegseth Orders NSA Cyber Command DIA and NGA to Prioritize Election Defense as Administration Dismantles Foreign Influence Offices

BLUFHegseth's memo gestures at election defense but commits no new resources or timelines, leaving the influence-detection gap created by dismantled FBI and CISA offices largely unaddressed five weeks before the midterms.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo on September 22, released Monday, directing Cyber Command, NSA, DIA and NGA to prioritize countering foreign threats to the midterm elections, Nextgov/FCW and CNN reported 12. Axios, which first reported the memo, said it tasks the Defense Intelligence Enterprise with collecting information on foreign election threats and directs Cyber Command to work with DHS against foreign cyber threats 3. Nextgov/FCW reported the memo names no adversaries, additional staffing, funding or deadlines, and does not say whether the joint NSA-Cyber Command Election Security Group will be used 1. CNN reported that Gen. Joshua Rudd told lawmakers in April he did not know whether that group had been stood up 2. Nextgov/FCW noted the administration has dismantled the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force and reduced CISA election support 1.

Analysis
The memo redirects existing NSA and Cyber Command capacity but adds no resources, so its effect before November depends on organizational choices the text leaves open. The Election Security Group's work takes months of planning, and only five weeks remain. Cyber Command and DHS conduct joint election-related cyber activity every cycle, and that work is expected again, though the public will see little of it. The dismantled FBI Foreign Influence Task Force and reduced CISA support leave the influence-operation detection gap largely unfilled. The memo may instead be political cover, restating standing missions rather than starting new work. Multiple outlets corroborate the memo's content, so the directive is reliably established, but its implementation is not.

5 sources