Dive Brief:

• Multiple news outlets reported Thursday night that the Trump administration fired Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command. Haugh was appointed to the roles in February 2024 and previously served as deputy commander of Cyber Command and commander of the Cyber National Mission Force.
• The Cyber Command is a division of the U.S. military that is charged with defending Department of Defense networks as well as conducting offensive cyber operations against both cybercriminal groups and state-sponsored threat actors working on behalf of adversarial nations.
• Haugh's firing follows significant job cuts and leadership changes across federal government agencies that impact cybersecurity such as CISA and, more recently, the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The moves have alarmed many infosec professionals and lawmakers.

Dive Insight:

Haugh was reportedly fired along with Wendy Noble, deputy director and senior civilian leader at the NSA. Cybersecurity Dive contacted the NSA for comment, but a spokesperson said the agency had nothing to add and recommended contacting the Department of Defense (DoD) public affairs office. The DoD public affairs office did not respond to a request for comment.

As of Friday morning, the NSA’s website no longer lists Haugh and Noble as members of the agency’s leadership team. The site now lists Lt. Gen. William J. Hartman as acting director of the NSA and acting commander of Cyber Command.

The NSA plays an integral cybersecurity role in both the defense of U.S. networks as well as offensive operations designed to identify and disrupt threat campaigns. In addition to relaying intelligence on emerging threats facing both the public and private sectors, the agency's cyber division also assists with infiltrating and disrupting cybercriminal networks as well as nation-state hacking operations.

Several lawmakers condemned Haugh’s firing. In a statement Friday, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, denounced the Trump administration for removing Haugh during a perilous time for U.S. cybersecurity.

“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, as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored, how does firing him make Americans any safer?” Warner said in the statement.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., ranking member of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed alarm at the lack of transparency on Haugh’s firing from the Trump administration.

“I am deeply disturbed by the decision to remove General Haugh as Director of the National Security Agency. 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," he wrote in a post on X. "The Intelligence Committee and the American people need an immediate explanation for this decision, which makes all of us less safe."

Haugh’s removal follows increased concerns about nation-state hacking from China and other adversarial nations. In a hearing this week, the House Committee on Government Reform discussed the recent Salt Typhoon attacks on U.S. telecom providers and weighed response options, which included retaliatory cyberattacks commonly referred to as “hacking back.”