US cessation of offensive cyber operations against Russia downplayed

The U.S. Department of Defense was noted by House Armed Services cyber subcommittee chair Don Bacon, R-Neb., to have suspended offensive cyber operations against Russia for only a day following a directive issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in late February, according to The Record.

The duration of the stand-down order is typical as the Trump administration is looking to end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, said Bacon in a Friday hearing. On the other hand, Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., flagged a statement from an anonymous DOD rapid response account denying the order as being "at least misleading." Additional comments on the assertions made by Bacon and Vindman were not provided by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy Laurie Buckhout, who only noted the presence of "a number of elements" in cyber operations against Russia. Such a hearing also had bipartisan lawmakers castigating Trump's ouster of National Security Agency and Cyber Command Director TImothy Haugh amid increasing cyber threats against U.S. critical infrastructure.