President Donald Trump formally nominated Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to lead the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command in a dual-hatted capacity, the Defense Department said Thursday.
The signals intelligence titan and combatant command have been without a permanent leader for months, after far-right activist Laura Loomer pushed for the firing of previous leader, Gen. Timothy Haugh, in April. Since then, Lt. Gen. William Hartman has led the agency in an acting capacity.
Rudd, the current deputy director for Indo-Pacific Command, appears to not have previously held a military cybersecurity position, though a person familiar with his nomination said his background in a global region that includes China would align with U.S. goals to counter Chinese cyber threats.
The Senate received President Donald Trump’s nomination for Rudd to be promoted to general for the leadership role on Monday. A four-star general is traditionally tapped to lead NSA and Cyber Command in a dual-hatted capacity.
The NSA specializes in hacking and foreign eavesdropping and is deemed a “combat support agency” that faces oversight from both the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Defense Department.
The agency has been facing waves of internal strain and lower morale across its workforce amid a mix of leadership gaps, program cuts and recent deferred resignation offers, Nextgov/FCW reported last month. It recently achieved a goal to shed around 2,000 people from its workforce this year.
In the same DOD announcement, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock was formally nominated to be deputy chief of Cyber Command.
“I look forward to reviewing Lt. Gen. Rudd’s nomination and evaluating his qualifications to lead the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command at a moment of unprecedented cyber and national security threats,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner., D- Va.
“That said, it should never have taken this long to nominate someone to this critical post. The administration has left the NSA without a confirmed director or deputy director since April, after abruptly firing the previous leadership without explanation, at the apparent direction of conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer,” he added. “At a time when China, Russia, Iran, and criminal actors are constantly probing our defenses, this kind of chaos and vacancy at the top makes America less safe. We need steady, experienced leadership at our most critical national security agencies.”
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