WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has launched a cyber campaign aimed at Russian operatives in an effort to curb misinformation ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, in what it said was the first known such operation to protect American elections. The Times said the protective operation included missions taken in recent days, but has been limited in part to prevent Moscow from escalating its response beyond election-related actions that could target the US power grid or other targets. CNBC reports that the defense officials who disclosed the current operation to the New York Times did not provide details about how the Cyber Command is contacting the Russians it is tracking, or how many individuals it has targeted. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton said that he told Moscow officials that he considered Russian meddling in the American election process as “intolerable.”

“It’s a major obstacle to achieving agreement on issues where our national interest may converge,” Bolton said, according to The Guardian.
The United States Cyber Command contacts individual Russians with the hope to deter them from interfering with upcoming American elections, including the November midterms.