Hegseth Orders Defense Department to Focus on Foreign Interference in Midterm Elections

Is this the best way to protect elections from foreign hackers or a concerning announcement after a year of gutting cyber defenses?

Published 2 days ago

Hegseth Orders Defense Department to Focus on Foreign Interference in Midterm Elections

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Above: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Image credit: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Republican narrative

Locking down voting systems against hostile foreign hackers is exactly what the nation's best cyber and intelligence muscle exists to do. Election integrity is national security, and treating it as a no-fail mission sends a clear signal that meddling by outside actors will be found, disrupted and shut down. Anyone squirming, including Democrats, at that defense of the ballot should explain why.

Dave Hayes on X

The SCIF on X

Democratic narrative

A one-page memo weeks before voting can't paper over a year the Trump administration spent gutting the agencies that actually help states secure ballots. Slashing cyber support and stalling threat-sharing makes the sudden urgency look like theater. And with a president musing about troops at the polls, vague talk of militarized election defense deserves real suspicion.

Amee Vanderpool on Substack

Martin D. Vasquez on Substack