NSA taps three officials for top cybersecurity positions

MalBot · June 1, 2026, 10:35pm

The National Security Agency has internally named a trio of appointments focused on the spy agency’s cyber operations.

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David Imbordino, who has overseen the NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate in an acting capacity in recent months, has been tapped to lead the office permanently, according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the selections.

Holly Baroody — a senior United Kingdom-based NSA official and a former civilian lead in U.S. Cyber Command — will serve as Imbordino’s deputy, the second former official said. Imbordino and Baroody have served as acting officials in their respective roles since around January.

Created in 2019, the cyber directorate combines the agency’s intelligence-gathering and digital defense expertise to help protect U.S. government networks, military systems and contractors from hacking threats.

The second former official also said that Bruce Jones, a longtime agency leader with experience in both technical and operational roles, will head the NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, a hub used to share cyber threat intelligence between the government and the private sector.

Both former officials requested anonymity to communicate their knowledge of the positions.

Nextgov/FCW has asked the NSA for comment. The Record <a href=“NSA selects new leads for key cybersecurity posts | The Record from Recorded Future News”>first reported</a> the selections.

For the last year, the signals intelligence and foreign eavesdropping giant has grappled with leadership vacuums and significant <a href=“A leadership vacuum and staff cuts threaten NSA morale, operational strength - Nextgov/FCW”>morale decline</a> as the Trump administration has sought to <a href=“NSA has met 2,000-person workforce reduction goal, people familiar say - Nextgov/FCW”>taper its workforce</a>.

Gen. Josh Rudd was <a href=“Senate confirms Josh Rudd to lead NSA and Cyber Command - Nextgov/FCW”>confirmed</a> in March to lead Cyber Command and the NSA in a dual-hatted manner, with Tim Kosiba joining the spy agency soon after to serve as its deputy director.

The NSA has sought to <a href=“Anticipated executive order could give NSA a role in voluntary AI model testing - Nextgov/FCW”>take a role</a> in artificial intelligence policy developments, amid the recent emergence of advanced cyber-focused AI models that, in the wrong hands, could help foreign adversaries and criminal hackers more easily penetrate U.S. computer networks.

The New York Times <a href=“https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/us/politics/spy-agencies-ai-chips-shortage.html”>reported</a> last month that the White House approved some $9 billion for spy agencies like NSA to accelerate AI adoption, though shortages of advanced computing chips have constrained the use of state-of-the-art AI models on their classified systems.

Article Link: NSA taps three officials for top cybersecurity positions - Nextgov/FCW