U.S. Army cancels top official’s West Point appointment after X complaint by influencer Laura Loomer

A day after a complaint by a far-right conspiracy theorist, the United States Army this week reversed the appointment of a Biden-era cybersecurity tsar to a top role at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point.

Ex-CISA chief out at West Point

Jen Easterly, who headed up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) under President Biden, had been named West Point’s new Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in the Department of Social Sciences.

However, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll revealed on Wednesday that he had ordered the cancellation of Easterly’s West Point job offer.

Driscoll added that he has commissioned “an immediate top-down review of the United States Military Academy’s hiring practices”.

The announcement came a matter of hours after Laura Loomer, a political influencer who has been dubbed President Trump’s “loyalty enforcer”, launched a social-media broadside against Easterly’s appointment.

“Why are Biden holdovers getting elevated?”

In a post on X on Tuesday, Loomer complained of a “vetting crisis”, writing: “Why are Biden holdovers who worked to silence Trump supporters under Biden getting elevated to high level jobs under the Trump admin[istration]?”

After Driscoll confirmed the reversal of Easterly’s appointment, Loomer posted on X: “This is the way.”

CISA a target for conservative critics

A government agency that seeks to combat online misinformation, CISA has routinely attracted the ire of figures on the right.

As Politico’s cybersecurity and intelligence reporter John Sakellariadis explains, right-wingers have claimed that the body “singles out conservative voices and infringes upon free speech rights”.

Easterly was appointed as CISA director by President Biden in July 2021, before leaving the agency when Trump returned to the White House in January this year.

Who is Laura Loomer?

Loomer has had two unsuccessful bids for election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Most recently, she ran in the Republican primary for Florida’s 11th congressional district in August 2022, but lost to the incumbent, Daniel Webster.

The 32-year-old, who hosts the podcast ‘Loomer Unleashed’, is known for pushing conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” by the U.S. government.

She also has a track record of promoting anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim views, and targeted the Indian-American Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for racist abuse ahead of last November’s presidential election.

“If Kamala Harris wins, the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center, and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand,” Loomer wrote on X.

A feature of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail, Loomer has been described by the U.S. president as a “fantastic woman” and a “true patriot”.

Trump has sought to play down Loomer’s influence on his administration’s hiring policy, but a tally by the Daily Beast says 16 public officials have now been dismissed after the activist questioned their loyalty to the regime.

“She now functions, effectively, as the president’s loyalty enforcer,” writes the Daily Beast’s Chris Cillizza. “Trump likes people who are loyal to him - no matter what else they say or do. And Loomer has repeatedly made clear that he is her top priority.”

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