New names surface for NSA director, other top jobs at spy agency

After a months-long leadership vacuum amid intense scrutiny from one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal far-right supporters, the National Security Agency is readying a number of senior personnel moves meant to reinvigorate the organization.

The foreign electronic eavesdropping agency has lacked a permanent chief for nearly seven months and experienced a stream of high-level departures, as well as pressure from the administration to pare down its workforce. 

Names are surfacing for the agency’s top job, its No. 2 position and its general counsel. There also is an ongoing shakeup among key cybersecurity and international posts and within the civilian workforce at large.

Search continues for NSA director

The NSA, which is led by the same military officer as U.S. Cyber Command, has been without a Senate-confirmed head since April when Trump fired Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh and his top NSA deputy. Far-right activist Laura Loomer later claimed credit for the dismissals.

Recorded Future News first reported that Army Lt. Gen. William Hartman, who has led both entities in an acting capacity since Haugh’s departure, became the second potential nominee to be passed over for the “dual-hat” role.

Army Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton, the leader of Cyber Command’s network defense arm, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Hensley, the head of his service’s information warfare command, are considered to be front-runners for the job, according to three people familiar with the administration’s search.

Stanton already serves in a “dual-hat” role as head of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the Cyber Defense Command, a renamed, newly elevated organization responsible for protecting the Pentagon’s networks globally. 

Stanton previously helmed the Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence and holds three degrees in computer science, including a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

Hensley has served mainly intelligence roles, including as the deputy director of operations for combat support at NSA, before assuming command of the 16th Air Force and Air Forces Cyber last year.

No certainty elsewhere 

Joe Francescon, who in August was picked to serve as NSA deputy director — the agency’s No. 2 job — has yet to officially begin work after Loomer criticized his selection. Sheila Thomas, who has filled the post in an acting capacity since April, recently submitted her retirement paperwork, according to sources.

David Frederick, who was appointed the NSA’s first assistant deputy director for China in 2023, was recently tapped to be the agency’s lead representative in the United Kingdom.

The special advisory role in the U.K. could set up Frederick, who previously served as the top civilian leader at Cyber Command, for leadership positions back in Washington in the future. 

Previous examples include Rob Joyce, who served as the senior liaison to London before becoming the head of the NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate; and former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, who held the U.K. role before he became the NSA’s second-in-command.

Greg Smithberger, the agency’s previous top man in the U.K., is leading the cyber directorate in an acting capacity. 

However, Smithberger is expected to retire early next year, creating another senior-level opening. One potential successor is Katie Arrington, who is performing the duties of the Pentagon’s chief information officer and already works closely with the NSA.

The NSA did not respond to a request for comment about the recent personnel moves.

Finding a new general counsel

A search also is underway to find the agency’s next top lawyer. 

The general counsel role, one of the most senior at NSA, has been a lightning rod for controversy since the final days of the first Trump administration when a loyalist and former GOP operative Michael Ellis (now the No. 2 at the CIA) was installed in the position.

Circumstances around Ellis’ 11th-hour appointment in January 2021 eventually triggered an investigation by the Defense Department’s watchdog.

April Falcon Doss was removed from the job in July after criticism, once again, from Loomer, who cited her past work for the Democratic staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

A potential pick for the counsel gig is Allen Souza, the current general counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee. An aide to former House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA), Souza was also a senior staffer for the National Security Council during Trump’s first term and worked at Palantir.

Thousands gone

Aside from the leadership carousel, the electronic espionage agency’s larger workforce has also undergone major shifts.

Recorded Future News first reported that NSA personnel had been sent what became known as the “Fork in the Road” and early retirement offers as part of the Trump administration’s overall effort to downsize the federal government.

The agency set out to cut 2,000 civilian positions, or 8 percent of the workforce. Between early retirements, deferred resignations and cuts to probationary personnel, the NSA surpassed its own goal and lost about 2,100 people prior to the September 30 deadline, according to a source familiar with the outcome. 

For those still left, all NSA employees have been required to watch the video of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s town hall address to U.S. military brass.

Hegseth issued a memo after the event directing military leaders to verify that their personnel watched the speech, which he delivered to senior officers in September at Quantico, and reviewed the policy changes he subsequently rolled out.

“The Secretary’s speech was for the whole force and this memo just reinforces that guidance,” a DOD official said in a statement.

Still, it's unclear why NSA civilians must watch the address, considering there are no standards for things like facial hair or physical fitness. 

Regardless, the directive is being tracked in the agency’s training system in order to record viewers and ensure compliance, two former U.S. officials told Recorded Future News.