# Timothy Haugh The Air Force four-star who ran the [[NSA]] and [[US Cyber Command]] from February 2024 until **April 3, 2025**, when Trump relieved him of all three of his commands. The vacancy he left was not filled by a confirmed successor for eleven months. He is the highest-ranking officer removed in the [[Laura Loomer]] purges. ## Career Born January 11, 1969 in Hughesville, Pennsylvania; commissioned through AFROTC at Lehigh University in 1991, with graduate degrees from Southern Methodist, the Naval Postgraduate School and National Defense University. His career was entirely inside the intelligence and cyber enterprise: commander of the 315th Network Warfare Squadron, the 318th Information Operations Group, the 480th ISR Wing (2014–2016), director for intelligence at U.S. Cyber Command (2017–2018), commander of the Cyber National Mission Force (2018–2019), commander of Twenty-Fifth Air Force and then the first commander of Sixteenth Air Force (2019–2022), and deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command (2022–2024). Biden nominated him in May 2023 to the dual-hat post. Senator Ron Wyden held the nomination from November 30, 2023 over the NSA's purchase of Americans' data; the Senate confirmed him and his fourth star on December 19, 2023, and he took command on **February 2, 2024**, succeeding Gen. Paul M. Nakasone. ## The firing On April 3, 2025 Haugh was relieved as commander of Cyber Command, director of the NSA and chief of the Central Security Service. The Pentagon gave no reason. The Washington Post and the New York Times both reported it the same day; the Times reported, on an administration source, that [[Laura Loomer]] had met Trump in the Oval Office the day before and pressed for Haugh's removal on grounds of "disloyalty," after which Trump directed [[Pete Hegseth]] to dismiss him. His civilian deputy, [[Wendy Noble]], was removed from her post on the same day. Haugh retired from the Air Force in 2025 after 34 years of service. > [!important] The cost was measured in months, not personnel > Lt. Gen. William Hartman ran the NSA and CYBERCOM in an acting capacity for nearly a year. Trump did not nominate a replacement until **December 2025**, and [[Joshua Rudd]] was not confirmed until **March 10, 2026** — by a 71–29 vote, over a hold from the same Senator Wyden, and after the [[Iran War 2026]] had already begun. The signals-intelligence agency and the offensive-cyber command spent eleven months without a Senate-confirmed head because of a meeting no one has ever officially acknowledged. ## Why He Matters for the KB Haugh is the proof that the Loomer mechanism reaches uniformed four-stars, not just political staff — and the proof of what it costs. Nothing was alleged against him: no scandal, no finding, no stated cause. He was appointed under Biden, which was sufficient. His replacement, [[Joshua Rudd]], is a Special Forces officer with no cyber or intelligence background, which makes the sequence legible as a whole: **remove the expert, leave the seat empty, install the loyalist**. ## See Also - [[NSA]] — the agency he directed - [[US Cyber Command]] — the command he led - [[Wendy Noble]] — his civilian deputy, removed the same day - [[Joshua Rudd]] — his eventual successor, confirmed March 2026 - [[Laura Loomer]] — the influencer who pressed for his removal - [[Pete Hegseth]] — the Defense Secretary directed to dismiss him