NSA leadership ousted

So this happened:

The head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command was removed from his job on Thursday, according to the top Democrats on the congressional intelligence committees…. a U.S. official briefed on the matter said Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and outside adviser to President Trump, called for General Haugh’s removal during her Oval Office meeting on Thursday. Mr. Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to fire General Haugh, the official said…. Three former officials briefed on the matter said General Haugh was informed of the decision while traveling. Current and former officials said General Haugh’s deputy at the National Security Agency, Wendy Noble, was also removed from her post, and potentially reassigned to another position at the Pentagon.

Frankly, the explanation being leaked—that an unhinged conspiracy theorist talked Trump into removing Haugh and Noble—is the best-case scenario. As numerous people have pointed out, this is also what we’d expect to see if Haugh and Noble refused an illegal surveillance order.

Loomer also convinced Trump to fire three National Security Council staffers on the grounds that they were too ‘neoconservative,’ which might be a euphemism for professional or ‘not insane.’

Loomer, in the leadup to Wednesday’s meeting with Trump, had complained to sympathetic administration officials that she had been excluded from the NSC vetting process as Waltz built his staff, according to one person familiar with the matter. She believes Waltz was too reliant in the process on “neocons” — shorthand for the more hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party — as well as what she perceived as “not-MAGA-enough” types, the person said.

So the purges continue. They’ve now been extended to administration appointees who have been on the job for less than three months.