Media: Pentagon to use AI and cyber capabilities against threats to US elections

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to use intelligence and cyber capabilities to counter foreign interference in upcoming US elections, according to Axios.

Under a memo authorised by Hegseth on September 22, the Defence Department will prioritise its "intelligence and cyber capabilities to ensure foreign actors do not meddle in our democratic systems", with US Cyber Command and the directors of combat support agencies involved.

The memo also directs the Defence Intelligence Enterprise to collect and produce information "on foreign threats to our elections, in accordance with the law, regulation, Executive direction." It calls for US Cyber Command and the Department of Homeland Security to conduct joint operations to counter "potential cyber threats from foreign actors targeting our elections".

The order does not direct military personnel or the National Guard to deploy to polling stations or seize voting machines.

The directive follows President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order, "Preserving And Protecting The Integrity Of American Elections". It was also drafted after Trump accused China in July of interfering in the 2020 election, an allegation Beijing denied.

The Pentagon's move follows similar measures taken before the 2022 midterm elections under President Joe Biden. Those measures directed US Cyber Command and the National Security Agency to "disrupt, deter, and degrade foreign adversaries' ability to interfere with and influence how U.S. citizens vote and how those votes are counted."

The federal government has expanded its role in addressing foreign election threats since 2017, when the Department of Homeland Security designated elections as critical infrastructure.

Trump's nominee to lead the NSA and US Cyber Command, Lt Gen Joshua M Rudd, told senators at his confirmation hearing that protecting elections was "fundamental" and said he would continue to "safeguard" American democracy.

At the same time, the Trump administration has reduced some election-security resources ahead of the midterms. Trump proposed cutting the budget of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the main DHS component responsible for election security, while staffing at other key posts was delayed.

Meanwhile, federal resources have been directed towards investigating alleged voter fraud and examining voter rolls.

After Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, his allies circulated a memo urging the president to use the Defence Department's and NSA's "unprocessed raw signals data" to investigate alleged election fraud, according to The Washington Post. Officials named in the memo denied seeing it at the time.

Trump also considered ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines after the 2020 election and said earlier this year that he regretted not doing so, according to The New York Times.

The latest Hegseth memo does not authorise the National Guard or other military personnel to seize voting machines.

An unnamed US official told Axios that advanced artificial intelligence capabilities would be used as part of the effort, adding: "This is what CYBERCOM does every day. Defending the country against foreign cyber actors is an enduring mission."

Rudd said US Cyber Command and the NSA "regularly counter actions by malicious foreign cyber actors, including those with the intent to interfere with our democratic process".

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said federal, state and local authorities were working "in lockstep" with US Cyber Command and defence intelligence teams to stop foreign interference and attacks.

By Aghakazim Guliyev