General Timothy Haugh was nominated as head of the NSA and Cyber Command in 2023.
General Timothy Haugh, the director of the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command, was fired on Thursday, according to a report from The Washington Post. His removal reportedly occurred just one day after right-wing activist Laura Loomer pushed for his firing during a meeting with President Donald Trump.
Wendy Noble, the Deputy Director and senior civilian leader of the U.S. National Security Agency, has also been fired and may have been moved to another role at the Pentagon, according to The New York Times.
“NSA Director Tim Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble have been disloyal to President Trump,” Loomer wrote in a post on X. “That is why they have been fired.” Loomer said Haugh was “hand picked” by General Mark Milley, who butted heads with Trump during his first term. “Why would we want an NSA Director who was referred to Biden after being hand selected by Milley,” Loomer wrote.
Former President Joe Biden nominated Haugh in 2023. He spent more than 30 years in the military and led the Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force.
Democrats on the Intelligence Committee criticized Haugh’s ousting. “It is astonishing that President Trump would fire the nonpartisan leader of the NSA while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on Signal – even as he apparently takes staffing direction from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office,” Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) said in a post on Bluesky. Representative Jim Himes (D-CT) said in a statement to The Post he was “deeply disturbed” by Haugh’s removal.
Lieutenant General William J. Hartman, who served as the Cyber Command Deputy, has been named the acting director of the NSA, while NSA executive director Sheila Thomas was appointed acting deputy, according to The Post.