[LINK] US Defense Secretary Hegseth Orders Cyber Command to ‘Stand Down’ on All Russia Operations

[Stephen Loosley]

Trump’s Defense Secretary Hegseth Orders Cyber Command to ‘Stand Down’ on All Russia Operations

Russia is not a significant cyber threat to the U.S. anymore, Trump's new Defense Secretary says.

By Lucas Ropek Published March 2, 2025 | Comments (313)
https://gizmodo.com/trumps-defense-secretary-hegseth-orders-cyber-command-to-stand-down-on-all-russia-operations-2000570343


[Photo caption: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signs a memorandum reversing the name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg while flying in a C-17 operated by the 300th Airlift Squadron en route to Stuttgart, Germany, Feb. 10, 2025 © DVIDS / DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza]

It appears that the U.S. no longer considers Russia a significant cyber threat, according to multiple new reports on a drastic policy reversal that has taken hold under the new Trump administration.

The cybersecurity outlet The Record originally reported that under Trump’s new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cyber Command has been ordered to “stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions.” 

https://therecord.media/hegseth-orders-cyber-command-stand-down-russia-planning

The outlet cites three anonymous sources who are familiar with the matter. The order reportedly does not apply to the National Security Agency.

The policy shift represents a complete 180-degree turn from America’s posture over the past decade, which has consistently considered Russia one of the top cybersecurity threats. Credible reporting and government investigations have shown that Russia has hacked into U.S. systems countless times.

The Guardian has reported that a memo recently circulated to staff at America’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) established “new priorities” for the agency and, while mentioning the threat of digital incursions by China and other enemies, failed to mention Russia.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/trump-russia-hacking-cyber-security

“Russia and China are our biggest adversaries. With all the cuts being made to different agencies, a lot of cyber security personnel have been fired. Our systems are not going to be protected and our adversaries know this,” a source, who was familiar with the internal memo, told The Guardian. “People are saying Russia is winning. Putin is on the inside now.”


Another anonymous source, who said that CISA staff had been “verbally informed that they were not to follow or report on Russian threats,” expressed concern for the shift: “There are thousands of US government employees and military working daily on the massive threat Russia poses as possibly the most significant nation state threat actor. Not to diminish the significance of China, Iran, or North Korea, but Russia is at least on par with China as the most significant cyber threat,” they said.

The U.S.’s new Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, recently fired about 100 National Security Agency employees after they were exposed for having sexually explicit chats on work computers. “They were brazen in using an NSA platform intended for professional use to conduct this kind of really, really horrific behavior,” Gabbard told Fox News.


As far as layoffs go, the NSA purge is a drop in the bucket for America’s signals intelligence agency. One of the intel community’s biggest outfits is reputed to employ at least 20,000 employees but has been estimated to use as many as 50,000. 

https://irp.fas.org/nsa/oldind.html

In general, despite Trump’s promise to smash the “deep state,” America’s dark and powerful national security state has remained largely untouched since he took office, with his administration’s wrecking ball DOGE content to spend most of its time smashing agencies that dispense services to the public.

End
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CISA Cybersecurity NSA Russia


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Mister Sterling
13 hours ago

Any InfoSec professional would tell you that you never ignore a source of threats. Even if a nation decreased its illegal activity, you never declare a region or nation to be "green." This is madness.


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LocalFrog
10 hours ago

Well...

 unless you have reasons to do so, like a nice sum in a Bahamas or Swiss bank account deposited there for you if you do that. 

unless you're a foreign agent that managed to ingrain itself so high he can gives executive orders. 

unless you and the circus around you has no clue about computer an...

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FF in Florida
5 hours ago

Does anyone else find it ironic that a democratically elected U.S. president is going about trying to undermine the same democratic government he was elected to lead, turning it into an authoritarian paradise, voting at the U.N. with the likes of Russia, Iran, and North Korea, alienating our allies...

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Chris
3 hours ago

nothing ironic. The Oligarchs have arrived. Just see Russia for a reference on what the outcome looks like. 


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bluewander
12 hours ago

How can anyone, especially the CIA, not see Trump as a very serious, real and present danger to national security?  If this isn't an ongoing coup by a foreign power, what is it?


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guest
12 hours ago

Sadly, that Trump wasn't aggressively outed as a Russian asset in 2017 shows that our intelligence services aren't as top notch as we sometimes think.  Hopefully we have a chance to rebuild them into a more robust protection force in 4 years.  Hopefully.


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Guest2
8 hours ago

What Russia never managed to achieve during the entire four decades of Cold War, Trump has given them in less than six weeks in charge. 


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Zeiram
2 hours ago

…and they did it for far fewer rubles than they spent stockpiling nukes for decades.  If you told me in the 90s that the internet and our own media would be Russia’s ultimate weapons against the US I would not have believed you.  They really played a long game.


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Dr. Smith
11 hours ago

Russia is not a significant cyber threat to the U.S. anymore, Trump's new Defense Secretary says.

You don't get much farther removed from reality than this.


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50-year-fan
11 hours ago

Its clear the Republican US government ,is going to collapse, its going to be impossible for their spin doctors to explain, hopefully there's still enough good, honest, people left to defy the insane directives coming 


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Krankor
10 hours ago

Of course they are not a cyber-threat anymore, DOGE gave them complete open access so Russia doesn't have to bother cracking systems. They just log in with approved credentials.


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Elliot
13 hours ago

Can they can explain how this makes America great again?