Connect with us

News

Firing of National Security Agency Chief Rattles Lawmakers

Published

on

Firing of National Security Agency Chief Rattles Lawmakers

As soon as word spread that President Trump had fired Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, current and former administration officials began floating theories about why he had been let go.

Had General Haugh opposed one of Mr. Trump’s initiatives, perhaps moved too slowly on purging officers who had worked on diversity issues? Or was he a casualty of the administration’s shifting priorities to counter narcotics?

Whether any of that was true, it had little, if anything, to do with why he was fired.

General Haugh was ousted because Laura Loomer, a far-right wing conspiracy theorist and Trump adviser, had accused him and his deputy of disloyalty, according to U.S. officials and Ms. Loomer’s social media post early Friday. He was one of several national security officials fired this past week on her advice.

“I predict you are going to see some nonsense statement about some policy difference or something General Haugh wasn’t doing, but we all know what happened,” said Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who is on the intelligence and armed services committees. “Laura Loomer said it. She is the one who told Trump to fire him.”

Advertisement

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and former majority leader, lamented that the Trump White House had ousted General Haugh and was appointing people to Pentagon posts who were skeptical of America’s engagement with allies and the world.

“If decades of experience in uniform isn’t enough to lead the N.S.A. but amateur isolationists can hold senior policy jobs at the Pentagon, then what exactly are the criteria for working on this administration’s national security staff?” Mr. McConnell said. “I can’t figure it out.”

The criteria Ms. Loomer appears to be using as she looks to oust people she sees as disloyal is their connections to critics of the Trump administration.

In her social media post, Ms. Loomer said General Haugh had been chosen by Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom she called a traitor.

Ms. Loomer said General Haugh’s deputy at the National Security Agency, Wendy Noble, was close to James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence and fierce critic of Mr. Trump.

Advertisement

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Milley reviewed the appointments of hundreds of officers to key positions. Mr. Clapper, the longest-serving director of national intelligence in the Obama administration and a senior defense intelligence official under George W. Bush, has ties to officials throughout the spy agencies.

Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said he had worked closely with General Haugh and never saw anything to suggest disloyalty or a lack of competence.

“I fear this is just the hourly installment in the Laura Loomer clown car aspect of this administration,” Mr. Himes said.

He said that it was important to have a detail-oriented leader at the top of the N.S.A., and that he was concerned General Haugh’s ouster could lead to policy changes.

Mr. Himes also said he was concerned that the Trump administration could try to split the jobs of N.S.A. director and head of Cyber Command.

Advertisement

Since U.S. Cyber Command was created, the director of the National Security Agency has led that organization. Some within the Trump administration, and veterans of his first term, want the two jobs separated. That would allow a military officer to lead Cyber Command but give the president or the defense secretary the license to name a civilian to lead the agency.

The two agencies work closely together, but have different roles. The National Security Agency penetrates telecom and computer networks overseas, collecting communications intercepts. Cyber Command conducts offensive and defensive operations on computer networks overseas. The command helps allied countries defend their networks and hunts for malware and breaches by Russia and other adversaries.

It also conducts offensive operations against the networks of adversaries to disrupt their ability to attack the United States.

A succession of N.S.A. directors have argued that one military officer should lead both agencies to improve coordination. But some Trump administration officials believe that it is important to have a civilian in charge one of the most important spy agencies.

Some Trump administration officials have been critical of the N.S.A.’s broad power to intercept phone calls overseas, because some Americans have been caught up in those efforts.

Advertisement

Mr. Himes said he opposed splitting the jobs. While there is an argument for separating them if done carefully, Mr. Himes said he doubted the Trump administration would proceed in such a manner. The administration was already imposing irrational cuts on the N.S.A. that were costing the agency skilled people, he said.

“Given this administration’s break-it-first-then-fix-it style of operating, I am concerned,” Mr. Himes said. “It is not the low performers or obsolete skill sets that are being fired. In many cases it is some of our most valuable people. And this very directly makes us less safe.”

Beyond the structure of the commands, some Trump administration officials want the N.S.A. to move faster on White House initiatives.

But Mr. Himes said there was no evidence the N.S.A. was slow rolling administration priorities, and he added that General Haugh was working to step up collection on drug cartels.

“I can say with certainty that the N.S.A. was reorienting its priorities,” Mr. Himes said. “In fact in some ways they were shifting in ways that made me a little concerned that the pivot to Asia and counterterrorism collection would get short-shrifted.”

Advertisement

Mr. King said it was deeply dangerous to remove General Haugh at a time when Chinese intelligence agencies were penetrating telecom networks and ransomware attacks backed by Russia on hospitals were continuing.

“Our country is under attack right now in cyberspace, and the president has just removed our top general from the field for no reason at the recommendation of someone who knows nothing about national security or even the job this general does,” Mr. King said.

News

Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Published

on

Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Advertisement

“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Published

on

Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Finn Gomez/Getty Images


hide caption



toggle caption

Advertisement

Finn Gomez/Getty Images

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

Advertisement

The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

Advertisement

Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

Continue Reading

News

Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Published

on

Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

Advertisement

Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

Advertisement

The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending