NSA, Cyber Command Chief Abruptly Fired

Gen. Timothy Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command, was abruptly ousted on Thursday, according to Democrats on intelligence committees—and far-right activist Laura Loomer. "NSA Director Tim Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble have been disloyal to President Trump. That is why they have been fired," Loomer said in a post on X early Friday. "Given the fact that the NSA is arguably the most powerful intel agency in the world, we cannot allow for a Biden nominee to hold that position," she said.

• Loomer's meeting with Trump. The New York Times, citing a "US official briefed on the matter," reports that Loomer called for Haugh's firing during an Oval Office meeting with President Trump. The meeting reportedly also led to the firings of other senior national security officials.

• Reasons. "As a Biden appointee, General Haugh had no place serving in the Trump admin given the fact that he was HAND PICKED by General Milley, who was accused of committing treason by President Trump," Loomer said in her post on X. The Times reports that administration officials also thought Haugh wasn't eliminating diversity programs fast enough. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley would have had a role in selecting the nominee to lead Cyber Command. Loomer described Noble as Haugh's "Obama loving protege."
• Condemnation. Democrats said the administration needs to explain why the leader of the espionage and cybersecurity agencies was fired. "I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who followed the law and put national security first," said Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "I fear those are precisely the qualities that could lead to his firing in this administration."
• Condemnation, II. "General Haugh has served our country in uniform, with honor and distinction, for more than 30 years," Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement, per the AP. "At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats ... how does firing him make Americans any safer?" He said it was "astonishing" that Trump would fire the "nonpartisan, experienced" NSA chief while failing to "hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app—even as he apparently takes staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office."

(More National Security Agency stories.)