The Trump administration has fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ powerful cyber intelligence bureau, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and two former officials familiar with the matter.
The dismissal of Gen. Timothy Haugh, who also leads US Cyber Command — the military’s offensive and defensive cyber unit — is a major shakeup of the US intelligence community which is navigating significant changes in the first two months of the Trump administration. Wendy Noble, Haugh’s deputy at NSA, was also removed, according to the former officials and lawmakers.
The top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committee, Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes, denounced the firing of Haugh, who served in the roles since February 2024, in statements on Thursday night.
Lt. Gen. William Hartman, an experienced military officer and the deputy of Cyber Command, is expected to serve as acting head of the command and NSA, the two former officials said.
The news of the dismissals comes as the White House also fired multiple staff members on the National Security Council on Thursday, after Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who once claimed 9/11 was an inside job, urged President Donald Trump during a Wednesday meeting to do so, arguing that they were disloyal.
Loomer, who brought a list with roughly a dozen names of people she deemed insufficient in their support of Trump, also advocated for the firing of Haugh and Noble, two sources familiar with the meeting told CNN.
During the meeting, Loomer told the president that Haugh specifically should be fired because he was handpicked by the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. Haugh was nominated in 2023, while Milley was serving, to head up the NSA and Cyber Command.
Yeah, fuck around more with the spies, that’ll end well for you.
If you’ve reached the point where you’re hoping the NSA will rein in the abuses of the civilian government, it doesn’t really matter who wins. America is lost.
It’s like hoping Disney beats the government. I know who I prefer to win but either way I’ve probably lost.
This is how they will squash any discreet in investigations into other Signal conversations.
I thought they were firing Drunky Smurf for a second there. Guess he hasn’t embarrassed the admin enough yet-- maybe after he gets some citizens killed by drunk texting
Blyat!
That’s what she said