Overview
- The hold blocks advancement by unanimous consent and threatens to slow a final Senate confirmation vote.
- Wyden contends Rudd showed unfamiliarity with basic constitutional rights in hearing and written answers, invoking past NSA surveillance abuses.
- Rudd serves as deputy commander at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and is a career special operations officer without signals-intelligence or cybersecurity experience.
- NSA and U.S. Cyber Command have lacked a Senate-confirmed leader since April after President Trump fired Gen. Timothy Haugh without a public explanation.
- A Republican-controlled Senate could still break the hold with a majority vote, which could introduce additional delay, a congressional aide said.