Trump administration fires director of National Security Agency

[24601]

Source: CNN

The Trump administration has fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ powerful cyber intelligence bureau, according to 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.

-snip-

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.

-snip-

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.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/03/politics/trump-administration-fires-director-national-security-agency/index.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Replacing him, Laura Loomer.

Sheesh, why not?

[Deminpenn]

3. Wasn't there a rumor they were having

an affair during the campaign?

[Mister Ed]

2. Well, if some loudmouthed know-nothing wingnut with a podcast says it's the thing to do...

...then I guess it must be the thing to do.

I mean, who better to advise our "president" on matters of national security policy?

[Scrivener7]

4. Creating a Stazi.

[sop]

5. Far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer is now in control of our U.S. Intelligence apparatus.

After every one of Trump's incredibly dangerous blunders, I keep thinking someone in the Republican party will stand up and say, "Enough, this has to stop!" Perhaps when he dissolves Congress and declares himself King they'll object.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Making things easier for Putin.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Even more than most positions, this is one which should remain as nonpolitical and nonpartisan as possible.

The NSA specializes in SIGINT -- signals intelligence -- mostly gleaned from interception of radio signals across the whole usable frequency spectrum, public bands and otherwise. Nowadays that includes cell phones and wireless devices of all kinds, as well as satellite ground stations. The NSA maintains antenna "farms" which capture radio signals from across the whole surface of the globe, and processes enormous volumes of intercepted data and metadata, armed with some of the most powerful IT and cryptographic resources in the whole world, including multiple installations of whichever model of Cray is most current (NSA often gets Cray's first deliverable of new models). The primary job requirements in the NSA are two -- first, the highest level of security clearance possible, and secondly, the highest available level of technical competence. Political appointees -- especially Trump's brand of Dunning-Kruger hyper-overconfident hires -- would fundamentally, and possibly irreversibly, degrade the NSA's abilities to accomplish its mission. Turnip, and especially Musk, must be kept as far away from the NSA as possible -- not only to maintain its abilities at the highest level, but to prevent it from violating its statutory exclusion from retaining data from exclusively domestic signals (something which was probably violated extensively under Bu**sh**/Cheney).

As I was typing this, I was struck by the utterly horrible thought that Musk might decide to take an interest in the NSA, and try to force Starlink technology to be adopted within its secure bubble. More billion-$$$ contracts for Musk (N-ZA), probably the most compromisable national security figure in the entire US gov't. -- and his really iffy AIs providing hallucinatory data summaries on grave issues of national security. That's a clusterfuck we really need to avoid, and the current maladministration lacks the competence, and especially the inclination, to manage that.

[jmowreader]

9. SIGINT, not ELINT

Electronic intelligence is a subset of Signals Intelligence dealing with “noncommunication emitters” like radar systems. They’ve got this honed to the point that not only can they tell you that a particular warship is a member of a class of 10 vessels by looking at the radar signals coming from it, they can tell you which of the 10 it is.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Thanks, that is technically correct.*

(* "The best kind of correct", according to #1)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. All on the advice of some Goth looking woman