U.S. Secretary of Defense Announces Plan to Protect Midterm Elections

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U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the National Security Agency and other military forces specialized in intelligence and cybersecurity will take over the protection of election systems during the midterm elections scheduled for November.

Cybersecurity experts from the military have long assisted in monitoring systems and deterring potential hackers since election equipment was classified as "critical infrastructure" in 2017.

However, Hegseth's announcement comes after President Donald Trump made sweeping changes that weakened the civilian agency specifically created to protect election infrastructure, which is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under the Department of Homeland Security.

Last week, the agency issued a plan for election infrastructure security, outlining the potential threats facing election systems and identifying the services it will provide to election officials to protect the voting process.

The announcements come just weeks before the scheduled election day on November 3, with early voting already underway.

David Becker, a former attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and head of the non-profit Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the short time frame "indicates that it is just a show."

He added: "If the administration were serious about helping state and local election officials, it would not have dismantled all federal capabilities in the area of election cybersecurity, nor would it have separated all its experts in early 2025."