Acting DNI Bill Pulte cuts ODNI staff by 51 positions
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Since assuming the role of acting director, Bill Pulte has terminated six intelligence staff and reassigned 45 to their original agencies, part of a broader effort to reduce the Office of the Director of National Intelligence workforce.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has seen 51 career and political intelligence employees removed from their positions after Bill Pulte became acting director on Friday, according to three sources familiar with the moves. Six staff members were terminated, while 45 were sent back to their home agencies. Pulte has consulted deputies and other senior officials on the scale of cuts, and one source said the reductions were carried out in a "thoughtful and methodical" manner. No further terminations are planned at this time, the sources added.
The personnel changes follow a larger downsizing effort initiated last year by former DNI Tulsi Gabbard, which aimed to lower ODNI's headcount from roughly 2,000 to about 1,300. President Trump earlier this month directed Pulte to "execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office" in a social media post.
Republican Senate Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton has criticized the agency for exceeding its original mandate and urged that staff detailed to ODNI be returned to their originating agencies. In contrast, Democratic leaders Mark Warner and Jim Himes cautioned against large-scale cuts by an acting official lacking national-security experience, stating that further reductions could jeopardize the agency's mission.
Pulte, a former housing-finance official, was appointed acting DNI after Trump announced his resignation. The appointment has drawn criticism from both parties, with some members questioning his lack of intelligence background. Democratic Representative Jason Crow expressed concern that the agency's leadership could affect national security, while Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned that delaying the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could undermine U.S. security.
Congress remains divided over the extension of Section 702, with Democrats refusing to renew the authority and Republicans urging its continuation amid ongoing debates about privacy and surveillance safeguards.