Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd appears to be the Trump administration’s pick to fill the months-old vacancy atop the National Security Agency and U.S.Cyber Command.
On Monday, the White House formally asked the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees to approve Rudd’s promotion to the four-star level needed for the double-hat command.
Rudd, who is deputy director for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, appears to not have previously served in military cybersecurity, but a person familiar with the matter confirmed the nomination and said his background would align with U.S. goals to counter Chinese cyber threats.
The Senate received President Donald Trump’s nomination of Rudd for the leadership role on Monday, as noted in the Congressional Record. A four-star general is traditionally tapped to lead NSA and Cyber Command in a dual-hatted capacity.
The signals-intelligence titan and combatant command have been without a permanent leader since April, when Gen. Timothy Haugh was fired, apparently on the advice of far-right activist Laura Loomer. Since then, Lt. Gen. William Hartman has led the agency in an acting capacity.
Hartman is expected to retire once a full-time leader is put in place, two people familiar with the matter previously said.
NSA’s workforce and morale have been under strain amid leadership gaps, program cuts, and recent extensions of deferred resignation offers, Nextgov/FCW reported last month. It recently achieved its goals to shed around 2,000 people from its workforce this year.
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. Both components get oversight from the Senate’s intelligence and armed services panels.
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