Trump Moves to Replace 38-Year-Old Acting DNI Pulte as Section 702 Nears Friday Expiry
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 9
Trump Moves to Replace 38-Year-Old Acting DNI Pulte as Section 702 Nears Friday Expiry
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 9
Summary
Less than a week after naming Bill Pulte acting director of national intelligence, Trump has already met other candidates for the job permanently, according to two Republicans cited by Politico.
Section 702 expires Friday without bipartisan backing, and Republicans including John Thune say the administration needs a replacement acceptable to enough Democrats to secure reauthorization.
Pulte, 38, has no intelligence background and has drawn resistance on Capitol Hill over both his inexperience and his combative pro-Trump profile at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Mike Johnson was expected to raise Pulte with Trump on Tuesday, and a source told NOTUS the House speaker warned members there would be no third extension—delaying Thursday departures instead if FISA is unresolved.
The scramble underscores how a personnel choice at the top of U.S. intelligence has become entangled with the fate of a key surveillance authority that Congress has already extended twice since April.