Driven by increasing pressure from conservative friends to remove individuals they see as insufficiently faithful to President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy, he has dismissed the head of the National Security Agency (NSA), a high-level action.
Gen. Timothy Haugh and civilian Deputy Wendy Noble were dismissed away from their positions as director and deputy director of the NSA. Acting director will be Lt. Gen. William Hartman, who currently heads U.S. Cyber Command; Sheila Thomas will become deputy.
Hartman has had intelligence, cyberspace operations and infantry duties throughout deployments all around the world; he once led the Cyber National Mission Force. Most recently, Thomas oversaw NSA’s cryptologic cooperation with the U.K. and was director of engagement and policy at NSA.
The upheaval follows certain right-wing leaders’ opposition to Trump national security team members. This week, far-right agitator Laura Loomer visited Trump to provide her “research” on those she thinks should be dismissed.
Loomer noted on X that both Haugh and Noble were Biden appointments. She allegedly took credit for the removal, stating Haugh had “no place” in the Trump administration because he was “hand-picked” by former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley.
Ms. Loomer said, “Why would we want an NSA Director who was referred to Biden after being hand selected by Milley?” Why would we want NSA DIRECTOR hand chosen by Milley? We certainly don’t! He was suggested for termination.
When questioned if Loomer had swayed the president’s choice, the White House and NSA remained silent.
On Thursday, Trump also dismissed a number of National Security Council (NSC) personnel, increasing national security adviser Mike Waltz’s current troubles after he mistakenly invited The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal communication regarding Houthi attacks.
Trump said of the firings, “We’re going to let go of people we don’t like, or people we don’t think can do the job, or people who might have loyalties to someone else.” He stated it was not many people but verified NSC members had been dismissed.
The NSA shift also followed Trump’s recent firing of Adm. Lisa Franchetti, former commander of naval operations, and C.Q. Brown, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The White House has said Waltz’s employment is not under jeopardy.
“As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team,” Trump administration press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the reporters in brief remarks outside the White House’s press room on Monday afternoon. As far as we are concerned, this case has been concluded here at the White House.