The top lawyer for the National Security Agency was removed from her job on Friday, according to multiple former officials, after she was criticized by conservative activists.
April Falcon Doss had been appointed to the general counsel post in April 2022, during the Biden administration. The web page on the N.S.A. site that displayed her biography now redirects to an error page.
On July 23, the Daily Wire, a conservative website, wrote about Ms. Doss and her former work for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Democratic staff. Later that day, Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist, amplified a social media post critical of Ms. Doss that cited the Daily Wire article.
In a text message on Tuesday, Ms. Loomer said that she had “reposted a tweet that exposed her last week and flagged it for the right people.”
Ms. Doss could not be reached for comment. But an official briefed on the matter said Ms. Loomer’s criticism appeared to have a role in the firing.
In the spring, Trump administration officials removed Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, the N.S.A. director, and his deputy, Wendy Noble, from their jobs after Ms. Loomer complained about them. Ms. Loomer argued, without evidence, that they were disloyal to the Trump administration. And in February, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, announced she was firing more than 100 N.S.A. employees who she said had participated in an explicit chat group on classified computers.
Ms. Doss worked at the agency before becoming general counsel and has extensive experience in cybersecurity law, including writing a 2020 book, “Cyber Privacy: Who Has Your Data and Why You Should Care.”
Spokesmen for the National Security Agency did not immediately comment.
The general counsel post is a civil servant job and is supposed to be apolitical. At the end of President Trump’s first term, Michael Ellis, an administration loyalist, was appointed to the job amid protests from Democrats in Congress. Mr. Ellis was put on leave at the start of the Biden administration and ultimately resigned from the role. He is now the deputy director of the C.I.A.
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
Robert Draper is based in Washington and writes about domestic politics. He is the author of several books and has been a journalist for three decades.
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