Gen. Haugh Confirmed as U.S. Cyber Commander
U.S. Cyber Command officially has its new leader after the U.S. Senate confirmed Gen. Timothy Haugh, USAF, for the role after granting him a fourth star on December 19.
Gen. Haugh also becomes the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and chief of the Central Security Service, in addition to being the leader of Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland. Gen. Haugh replaces Gen. Paul Nakasone, USA, who spent a historic six years as the inaugural leader of the command. Gen. Haugh had been serving as Gen. Nakasone‘s deputy commander since July 2022.
Cyber Command directs, synchronizes and coordinates cyberspace operations and planning to defend and advance national cyber interests in collaboration with domestic and international partners.
AFCEA welcomes the confirmation of Gen. Timothy Haugh to lead the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, both of which play a vital role in our national security.
Gen. Haugh will continue to closely align the command with the NSA, which has the mission to prevent and defend against cyber threats to U.S. national security systems, with a focus on the defense industrial base and weapons security. NSA also partners with allies, private industry, academia and researchers to strengthen cybersecurity awareness and collaboration.
Prior to being at Cyber Command, the general was the first leader of the modern-day 16th Air Force, which is responsible for the Air Force’s defensive and offensive cyber operations; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities; electronic warfare; and information operations. The leader ushered in its re-inception in 2019 when the Air Force stood up this information warfare component.
In that role, Gen. Haugh was the commander of Air Forces Cyber and commander, Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber (Air Force) at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. He was also the Air Force’s representative to Cyber Command. In addition, the 16th Air Force commander—now Lt. Gen. Kevin Kennedy, USAF—is the Air Force network operations crew manager, running all the networks the Air Force provides at the unclassified, secret and higher classification levels. And as the service’s cryptologic component commander, the 16th Air Force leader supports the airmen the service provides to the NSA or other efforts across the intelligence community.
At 16th Air Force, Gen. Haugh was instrumental in advancing zero-trust architecture as a core technology that supported the service's information warfare efforts, and more broadly, the service’s all-domain warfare capabilities.
Before leading the 16th Air Force, Gen. Haugh commanded the 24th Air Force, which was rolled in along with the 25th Air Force and the 557th Weather Wing to create the 16th Air Force.
Lt. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence, USA (Ret.), AFCEA’s president and CEO and a former Army CIO/G6, applauded the move of Gen. Haugh to commander of U.S. Cyber Command.
"AFCEA welcomes the confirmation of Gen. Timothy Haugh to lead the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, both of which play a vital role in our national security," Gen. Lawrence said. "We look forward to his continued leadership and contributions in the cybersecurity arena, and we thank Gen. Paul Nakasone for all that he has done for AFCEA and for the security of our country."
On December 19, the Senate also confirmed other senior Air Force leaders to four-star generals, including Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of the Pacific Air Forces; Gen. James Slife, now the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, and Gen. Gregory Guillot, who will take over as the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, coming from the role of deputy commander of U.S. Central Command.
