Story Highlights
- Acting DNI Bill Pulte began firing staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Monday, with one source saying “the deep state firings have begun”
- Trump had directed Pulte to downsize ODNI and “revert staff to their home agencies,” describing the office as “unnecessary and/or too big”
- Pulte separately ordered staff to identify approximately 400 employees to be fired from the National Counterterrorism Center in the coming weeks
What Happened
President Donald Trump appointed Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence earlier this month following the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down after revealing her husband’s cancer diagnosis. Pulte, who simultaneously holds the position of director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has no background in intelligence, counterterrorism, or national security policy — a fact that has drawn criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
Trump announced Pulte’s appointment on Truth Social, stating that he had asked the acting director “to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies.” The president told the Wall Street Journal that he views ODNI as “unnecessary and/or too big” and wants Pulte to “start the process” of reducing personnel, emphasizing that Pulte’s temporary acting status makes him “less shackled” to carry out rapid cuts without the constraints of congressional oversight that would accompany a Senate-confirmed director.
Firings at ODNI began Monday, with a source telling CNN that “the deep state firings have begun.” A separate source with knowledge of the matter told NBC News that Pulte had instructed staff to identify approximately 400 employees to be fired from the National Counterterrorism Center, which was created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. ODNI, which coordinates intelligence across 18 federal agencies, had roughly 1,800 employees at the start of Trump’s second term. Gabbard had already reduced the workforce by approximately 40 percent during her tenure.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, sent a letter to Pulte on Monday warning him against sweeping personnel cuts and cautioning him not to declassify sensitive intelligence without consulting career officials. “We are concerned that your record as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency demonstrates a willingness to misuse your position,” the lawmakers wrote, referencing Pulte’s use of FHFA data to refer Trump critics for criminal prosecution in housing fraud cases.
Trump has separately said he wants Pulte to investigate what he calls “rigged elections” during his time at ODNI, reinforcing concerns among critics that the appointment is politically motivated. The president has nominated Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, as permanent DNI, but has asked the Senate to pause Clayton’s confirmation until his replacement as U.S. attorney is installed.
Why It Matters
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created by Congress in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks specifically to address the intelligence coordination failures that allowed those attacks to occur. Its core mission is to unify and synthesize intelligence from across federal agencies to give policymakers a coherent picture of national security threats. Rapid cuts to that institution, particularly to the National Counterterrorism Center, carry real-world risks that go beyond personnel disputes.
Former intelligence officials have publicly stated that significant reductions at the counterterrorism center could impair the government’s ability to detect and prevent terrorist plots. The center’s work is not administrative — it is operational, drawing on classified information to identify threats before they materialize. Cutting 400 of its employees in a compressed timeframe removes institutional knowledge that takes years to build.
The manner of Pulte’s appointment raises additional concerns for Americans who care about constitutional processes. The DNI position ordinarily requires Senate confirmation. By naming Pulte as acting director, Trump bypassed that requirement, placing an individual with no relevant expertise in charge of the nation’s intelligence apparatus. Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed this concern directly, saying the country does not need a “weaponized DNI.”
The parallel between Pulte’s mandate — to investigate “rigged elections” — and his predecessor Gabbard’s use of the ODNI post to search for evidence supporting Trump’s 2020 election claims underscores a pattern. Intelligence resources are being directed toward domestic political objectives rather than foreign threats, a dynamic that has alarmed career intelligence professionals across the community.
Economic and Global Context
The destabilization of ODNI comes at a particularly sensitive moment in American foreign policy. The United States is simultaneously managing active peace negotiations with Iran, an ongoing war in Lebanon involving Israel and Hezbollah, and heightened tensions in multiple other theaters. The intelligence coordination role that ODNI plays in those contexts is not easily replaced by ad hoc arrangements.
Section 702, a critical surveillance authority that allows American intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets overseas, has already become entangled in the Pulte controversy. Democrats in the Senate blocked a three-year extension of Section 702 last week, citing Pulte’s appointment and their lack of confidence in his oversight of the program. Only one Democrat, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, crossed party lines in the 52-47 vote.
The financial dimensions of ODNI’s restructuring are significant. Under Gabbard, the administration had already cut the ODNI budget by more than $700 million annually. Further cuts under Pulte, combined with the departure of experienced career officers, would reduce both capacity and institutional expertise at a time when the administration’s foreign policy ambitions are arguably at their most complex.
Global adversaries who monitor American intelligence capabilities will note the turbulence within ODNI. Periods of institutional disruption have historically provided openings for foreign intelligence services to exploit gaps in American surveillance and counterintelligence operations.
Implications
The immediate legal and constitutional questions surrounding Pulte’s appointment are likely to be tested in court. His FHFA background — and the allegations that he misused that agency’s data to pursue Trump’s political opponents — gives critics a factual record to cite in challenging his fitness for the acting DNI role. Congressional Democrats have indicated they intend to scrutinize his actions closely.
For Trump, the ODNI restructuring serves multiple political objectives simultaneously. It reduces the size of a federal agency, consistent with broader DOGE principles. It places a loyalist at the helm of the intelligence community. And it creates a mechanism for pursuing the election fraud investigations that the president has repeatedly said remain a priority.
For career intelligence professionals, the firings send a clear signal about job security under the current administration. The loss of experienced counterterrorism analysts, targeting officers, and intelligence coordinators is not simply a budgetary matter — it is a talent exodus that adversaries will factor into their own strategic calculations.
The Clayton nomination remains unresolved, leaving the intelligence community in a state of leadership uncertainty of indefinite duration. Until a Senate-confirmed director is in place, Pulte will continue to wield the authority of the acting role, and the pace and scope of ODNI firings will be governed primarily by the president’s personal directives rather than congressional oversight.
Sources
“Top intelligence agency begins mass firings under new Trump appointee, source says”
