General Timothy Haugh, who led the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, has been dismissed by the Trump administration, as confirmed by the top Democrats from the House and Senate intelligence committees late Thursday night.
The announcement of Haugh’s ousting from the intelligence agencies was made by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
According to a source cited by CBS News, Lt. Gen. William Hartman, who currently serves as the Cyber Command deputy director, will assume the role of acting NSA director.
Upon inquiry, a spokesperson for the NSA declined to comment to CBS News.
Himes expressed his profound concern regarding the decision, stating he was “deeply disturbed” by it. The Washington Post was the first to break the news of Haugh’s firing, with no further details available at this time.
“I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who put national security first and followed the law—I fear these very qualities may have contributed to his dismissal by this Administration,” Himes noted in his statement.
Haugh had served as NSA director for a little over a year. He was initially nominated to the position by former President Joe Biden in May 2023, but his Senate confirmation was postponed until December 2023, due to a prolonged hold by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who was protesting a Pentagon policy regarding travel expenses for service members seeking reproductive health care.
In a statement regarding Haugh’s dismissal, Warner remarked, “At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats, such as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China clearly illustrates, how does firing him enhance Americans’ safety?” referencing last year’s China-linked hack of U.S. telecom companies.
Last week, Haugh testified on Capitol Hill about a Signal leak, where a journalist from the Atlantic had been included in a group chat with senior Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, discussing an operation to target Houthi positions. Haugh was not part of the chat.
The NSA director reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence.
Warner expressed astonishment that President Trump would “fire the nonpartisan, experienced leader of the National Security Agency while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app—especially while apparently taking staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office,” a comment referring to billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency and had a meeting with Haugh last month.
This dismissal occurred on the same day that CBS News discovered at least six staffers from the National Security Council had been let go following a visit to the Oval Office by right-wing figure Laura Loomer.
