Pentagon confirms four-star general’s firing amid Trump security purge

al Jazeera:

Pentagon confirms four-star general’s firing amid Trump security purge

US President Donald Trump acknowledged he has taken advice from a far-right media personality about who to fire

Air Force General Timothy Haugh testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats to American security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on March 11, 2024 [Julia Nikhinson/Reuters]

Published On 4 Apr 2025



The United States Department of Defense has confirmed it fired the head of the National Security Agency, in a move that sparked outrage over an alleged purge of security officials.

On Friday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell released a short statement, acknowledging the departure of four-star Air Force General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency (NSA), one of the government’s top intelligence-gathering bodies.

Haugh also led the US Cyber Command, which prepares for and defends against attacks in the digital sphere.

“The Defense Department thanks General Timothy Haugh for his decades of service to our nation, culminating as US Cyber Command commander and National Security Agency director. We wish him and his family well,” Parnell said.

Multiple media reports, however, suggested that Haugh’s ouster came at the suggestion of a far-right internet activist, Laura Loomer, who supported President Donald Trump’s campaign for re-election in 2024.

Democrats also seized upon the fact that Trump did not fire anyone involved in the recent controversy over the use of the messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen – something that came to light after a journalist was accidentally added to the chat.

“Gen. Haugh led the NSA and Cyber Command with steady, effective leadership,” Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona wrote on social media Friday.

“By dismissing him and failing to hold anyone accountable for the threat to U.S. pilots over Signal, Trump has shown he values loyalty over competence – making us all less safe.”

Another Democratic senator, Mark Warner of Virginia, echoed that sentiment, calling the situation “so crazy it defies belief”.

“Trump refused to fire the people that embarrassed America and risked servicemembers’ lives in the Signalgate scandal,” Warner wrote, “but fired Gen. Haugh, a nonpartisan national security expert, at the advice of a self-described ‘pro-white nationalist’.”

Laura Loomer arrives with Donald Trump at the Philadelphia international airport on September 10, 2024 [Chris Szagola/AP Photo]

Haugh was just one in a slate of firings this week that came after Trump met with Loomer at the White House.