President Donald Trump has a vacancy to fill at the top of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command after he fired the previous head in April, and a prime candidate for that position was recently recommended by two of Trump's senior Cabinet officials.

According to multiple unnamed sources, however, the White House has rejected the pick put forward by the Pentagon, who'd been endorsed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Politico reported.

That means the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command will continue to operate without a Senate-confirmed leader, and further suggests that any influence Hegseth and Gabbard may have once had on Trump has dwindled.

Pentagon's pick rejected by White House

Citing three unnamed sources, including one senior intelligence official and two former senior national security officials, Politico reported that the Pentagon recommended to President Trump that he nominate U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Richard Angle to serve as the new director of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command.

Angle has spent his career in special operations and currently serves as the commander of Allied Special Operations Forces Command and Special Operations Command Europe, and previously served as the deputy commanding general of operations for the U.S. Army Cyber Command during Trump's first term.

His recommendation came with the support of Sec. Hegseth, whom he reportedly met with last month at a conference in Tampa, Florida, as well as DNI Gabbard.

However, per the anonymous sources, the White House decided against moving forward with Angle as the nominee to fill the two vacant positions, and no explanation was given for the rejection.

Controversy over firing of previous leader

According to Cybernews, the previous director of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, retired Air Force General Timothy Haugh, was fired along with his top deputy, Wendy Noble, by President Trump in April.

The terminations sparked some media outrage at the time, as they seemingly followed a White House meeting Trump held with controversial right-wing independent investigative journalist Laura Loomer, who allegedly provided evidence that suggested the Biden-appointed Haugh and Noble, along with other staffers appointed by the former president, were disloyal and working to sabotage Trump's agenda from the inside.

Fueling the conspiracies that erupted with the firings was the fact that, at least publicly, no explanation was given for them being cut loose, and the two were allegedly informed only that their "services are no longer required."

Have Hegseth and Gabbard been "sidelined" by Trump?

Politico suggested that the White House rejection of Lt. Gen. Angle to lead the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command was further evidence that the influence wielded by Sec. Hegseth and DNI Gabbard over President Trump's decision making has waned over the past few months.

According to Raw Story, Hegseth has been "sidelined and shut out from Trump’s inner circle" because of lingering frustrations over the "Signalgate" controversy in March, when a highly critical leftist journalist somehow got invited to participate in a private group chat among senior officials about impending military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Similarly, NBC News reported that Gabbard has "fallen out of favor" and been "sidelined" by Trump over an alleged disagreement about the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program as well as a broadly misinterpreted social media video she posted that unequivocally condemned the use of nuclear weapons.

Yet, Trump hasn't publicly spoken out against either Hegseth or Gabbard, as he often tends to do with officials he's not happy with, and neither appear to be in any real danger of being fired or forced to resign any time soon.