Russia has been pretty happy with the United States lately, and the latest news out of the Pentagon will likely continue that streak. US officials tell CBS News that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has issued an order to US Cyber Command to suspend planning against Russia for now, including any offensive digital initiatives. It's not clear what spurred the directive, and the New York Times notes that the "precise scope and duration of the Defense Department order is not clear, as the line between offensive and defensive cyberoperations is often a blurry one."
The Record, which first reported on the development, says the order doesn't apply to the National Security Agency, which, like Cyber Command, is led by Gen. Timothy Haugh. According to that paper's timeline, Hegseth issued the mandate the third week of February—meaning before the Trump-Vance-Volodymyr Zelensky meeting in the White House on Friday that went south. Former officials tell the Times that it's not unusual for civilian leaders to pause military action while high-level negotiations are underway, in order to keep the temperature down.
But the paper adds that Hegseth's move is a "huge gamble" for the Trump administration, with US officials warning that Russia continues to try to infiltrate US networks, including via ramped-up ransomware attacks. "The order could derail some of the command's most high-profile missions involving a top US digital adversary, including in Ukraine," the Record notes. On Sunday, national security adviser Mike Waltz told CNN's State of the Union that he'd been previously unaware of Hegseth's order, but he insisted that "there will be all kinds of carrots and sticks to get this war [in Ukraine] to an end," per CBS. (More Pete Hegseth stories.)
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