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Trump Administration Fires Director of National Security Agency  (By Sean Lyngaas, Katie Bo Lillis and Alayna Treene, CNN)
The Trump administration has fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ powerful cyber intelligence bureau, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and two former officials familiar with the matter.
The dismissal of Gen. Timothy Haugh, who also leads US Cyber Command — the military’s offensive and defensive cyber unit — is a major shakeup of the US intelligence community which is navigating significant changes in the first two months of the Trump administration. Wendy Noble, Haugh’s deputy at NSA, was also removed, according to the former officials and lawmakers.
The news of the dismissals comes as the White House also fired multiple staff members on the National Security Council on Thursday, after Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who once claimed 9/11 was an inside job, urged President Donald Trump during a Wednesday meeting to do so, arguing that they were disloyal.

Firing of National Security Agency Chief Rattles Lawmakers  (Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)
Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who was also the head of U.S. Cyber Command, was one of several national security officials fired on the advice of a conspiracy theorist.
General Haugh was ousted because Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who once claimed 9/11 was an inside job, 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.
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.”
“I fear this is just the hourly installment in the Laura Loomer clown car aspect of this administration,” Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said.