Top Democrats protest after reported firing of National Security Agency
director
[April 04, 2025]
By LOU KESTEN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top congressional Democrats on Thursday protested the
reported firing of Gen. Tim Haugh as director of the National Security
Agency, with one lawmaker saying the decision "makes all of us less
safe.”
The Washington Post reported late Thursday that Haugh and his civilian
deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble, had been dismissed from those roles.
Haugh also headed U.S. Cyber Command, which coordinates the Pentagon’s
cybersecurity operations. The Post report cited two current U.S.
officials and one former U.S. official who requested anonymity.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said in a statement: “General Haugh has served our country in
uniform, with honor and distinction, for more than 30 years. At a time
when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats ... how
does firing him make Americans any safer?”
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member on the House Intelligence
Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed by the decision.”
“I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who
followed the law and put national security first — I fear those are
precisely the qualities that could lead to his firing in this
Administration," Himes added. “The Intelligence Committee and the
American people need an immediate explanation for this decision, which
makes all of us less safe.”
Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump said he had fired “some” White
House National Security Council officials, a move that came a day after
far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns directly to him about
staff loyalty.
Loomer during her Oval Office conversation with Trump urged the
president to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently loyal to his “Make
America Great Again” agenda, according to several people familiar with
the matter. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the
sensitive personnel manner.
“Always we’re letting go of people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air
Force One as he made his way to Miami on Thursday afternoon. “People
that we don’t like or people that we don’t think can do the job or
people that may have loyalties to somebody else.”
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President Donald Trump, center, arrives on Air Force One at Miami
International Airport, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Miami. (AP
Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The firings come as Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz
continues to fight calls for his ouster after using the publicly
available encrypted Signal app to discuss planning for the sensitive
March 15 military operation targeting Houthi militants in Yemen.
Warner said Thursday night, “It is astonishing, too, 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 — even as he apparently takes staffing direction on
national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval
Office.”
Haugh met last month with Elon Musk, whose Department of Government
Efficiency has roiled the federal government by slashing personnel
and budgets at dozens of agencies. In a statement, the NSA said the
meeting was intended to ensure both organizations are “aligned” with
the new administration’s priorities.
Haugh had led both the NSA and Cyber Command since 2023. Both
departments play leading roles in the nation’s cybersecurity. The
NSA also supports the military and other national security agencies
by collecting and analyzing a vast amount of data and information
globally.
Cyber Command is known as America’s first line of defense in
cyberspace and also plans offensive cyberoperations for potential
use against adversaries. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently
ordered the office to pause some offensive cyberoperations against
Russia, in another sign of how Trump’s administration is
transforming the work of the nation’s intelligence community.
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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller and
David Klepper contributed to this report.
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