Gen. Timothy Haugh, the head of both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, has been fired by the Trump administration, the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees confirmed late Thursday night, along with a source familiar with the matter.
Haugh’s removal from the spy agencies was disclosed by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Lt. Gen. William Hartman, the current Cyber Command deputy director, will serve as acting NSA director, the source told CBS News.
In a statement provided Friday to CBS News chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell did not provide a reason for the firing, only saying that the “Defense Department thanks General Timothy Haugh for his decades of service to our nation, culminating as U.S. Cyber Command Commander and National Security Agency Director. We wish him and his family well.”
When reached by CBS News, a spokesperson for the NSA had no comment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
News of the firing was first reported by the Washington Post.
Right-wing personality Laura Loomer played a role in Haugh’s firing, according to a senior intelligence official and a source familiar with the circumstances. Haugh’s ouster was also pushed by other elements of President Trump’s circle, sources said.
Earlier Thursday CBS News learned that at least six staffers with the National Security Council had been fired following a visit by Loomer to the Oval Office.
Haugh’s perceived close ties to retired Gen. Mark Milley — who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Trump and Biden administrations — were a strike against him, two sources told CBS News.
Mr. Trump and Milley had a public falling out over multiple incidents.
A source familiar with the discussions and a senior intelligence official told CBS News the administration is considering splitting the NSA and Cyber Command into discrete entities.
Himes said in a statement 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 said.
Haugh had been NSA director for just over a year. He was first nominated to the post by former President Joe Biden in May 2023, but his Senate confirmation was delayed until December 2023 because of Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s months-long hold on military nominations protesting a Pentagon policy on reimbursing travel expenses for service members who seek reproductive health care.
Haugh had met last month with billionaire Elon Musk, head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has been tasked by Mr. Trump with slashing the size of the federal workforce.
“At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats, as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored, how does firing him make Americans any safer?” said Warner in a statement on Haugh’s firing, referencing last year’s China-linked hack of U.S. telecom companies.
Haugh testified on Capitol Hill last week about the Signal leak in which a journalist for The Atlantic had been added to a group chat with high-ranking members of the Trump administration, including Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, regarding an operation to bomb Houthi targets. Haugh was not on the chat.
The NSA director reports to the DNI.
Warner said it was “astonishing” that Mr. 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,” a reference to Loomer.
James LaPorta, Ed O’Keefe, Margaret Brennan, Andres Triay, Robert Costa and Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.
Faris TanyosFaris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
