Trump Orders DNI Office Cuts, Pushes Bill Pulte to Fire Staff After 40% Workforce Slash
Updated
Updated · Los Angeles Times · Jun 5
Trump Orders DNI Office Cuts, Pushes Bill Pulte to Fire Staff After 40% Workforce Slash
3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Jun 5
Summary
Trump said he wants acting DNI Bill Pulte to further shrink the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and begin firing employees, arguing staffing is "way too high" and targeting officials from the Biden and Obama years.
Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency chief with no national security background, was installed this week on an acting basis to oversee 18 intelligence agencies, and Trump said he does not plan to nominate him permanently.
The office was already under heavy downsizing: the administration announced more than $700 million in annual budget cuts in August, and Tulsi Gabbard said the workforce would be reduced by about 40%.
That appointment has already complicated renewal of a key surveillance program, with Senate Democrats saying they do not trust Pulte to help administer it, adding to bipartisan resistance on Capitol Hill.
The move extends Trump's broader effort to remake the intelligence bureaucracy by using an interim appointee to carry out politically difficult cuts before a permanent nominee is chosen.