Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is moving to halt Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd’s confirmation to run U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, arguing that the nominee lacks the relevant credentials required for the post.
Rudd, who serves as deputy commander at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has not previously held a military cyberintelligence role.
In a letter lodged in the Congressional Record on Wednesday, Wyden — a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee — wrote that Rudd “does not have the background that would allow him to immediately step into” the role of leading the foreign eavesdropping agency and digital combatant command.
Wyden also took issue with Rudd’s responses to questions in his confirmation hearing that involved civil liberties and oversight against unlawful surveillance.
“His responses…reveal a lack of familiarity with basic constitutional rights that is incompatible with the position for which he has been nominated,” the letter said.
The NSA uses a slew of legal statutes that allow analysts to access communications of phones, computer networks, and other electronics to gather intelligence. It uses authorities housed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including a contentious section that Wyden and other privacy advocates have taken issue with.
Wyden said the nation is facing “a dangerous moment” for constitutional rights, particularly given concerns about Fourth Amendment protections related to DHS and ICE activities.
“The potential for abuse is enormous, as we saw when the Agency secretly conducted an illegal warrantless surveillance program that it hid not only from the public but from Congress,” the senator wrote, alluding to revelations about NSA surveillance activities made by Edward Snowden about a decade ago.
Rudd has defended his qualifications, telling lawmakers that he has consumed and acted on insights from intelligence gathered by NSA and Cyber Command. Some former officials and China analysts view Rudd’s Indo-Pacific background as relevant to U.S. cyber operations involving Beijing.
NSA and Cyber Command have been without a permanent leader ever since far-right activist Laura Loomer pushed for the firing of their previous head, Gen. Timothy Haugh, last April.
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