Acting DNI Bill Pulte Deepens ODNI Purge, Slashing 51 Positions in Trump-Ordered Downsizing
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Bill Pulte, a Trump-appointed acting director with no intelligence experience, has axed six intelligence staff and forced 45 others out of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, accelerating a right-wing campaign to gut oversight and expertise from the agency.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has suffered a major blow to its workforce, with 51 career and political intelligence employees removed after Bill Pulte, a former housing-finance official with no background in national security, was installed as acting director on Friday. According to three sources, six staff members were outright terminated, while 45 were forced back to their original agencies, a move that further destabilizes the intelligence community. Pulte, acting under the guidance of Trump loyalists, consulted deputies and senior officials, but sources described the process as a calculated effort to weaken the agency. While one source claimed the cuts were “thoughtful and methodical,” the reality is that these reductions are part of a broader right-wing assault on the civil service. No further terminations are planned for now, but the damage is already done.
These drastic personnel changes build on a downsizing campaign started last year by former DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who sought to shrink ODNI’s staff from about 2,000 to just 1,300. President Trump, continuing his war on government institutions, publicly ordered Pulte to “execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office” via social media, bypassing normal oversight and consultation.
Republican Senate Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton, a vocal critic of the agency, has long pushed for stripping ODNI of staff and returning them to their home agencies, undermining the agency’s ability to coordinate intelligence. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders Mark Warner and Jim Himes have warned against reckless cuts by an acting official with no national-security experience, emphasizing that further reductions could jeopardize the agency’s mission and national safety.
Pulte’s appointment, made after Trump forced out the previous DNI, has drawn criticism from both parties. Many lawmakers are alarmed by his lack of intelligence credentials. Democratic Representative Jason Crow warned that the agency’s leadership vacuum could threaten national security, while even Republican Senator Lindsey Graham cautioned that delays in renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could undermine U.S. security.
Congress remains gridlocked over Section 702, with Democrats refusing to rubber-stamp unchecked surveillance powers and Republicans demanding their continuation, exposing deep divisions over privacy and the future of intelligence oversight.