Trump’s acting intelligence chief begins firing hundreds at ODNI

The Trump administration has begun cutting hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a move that could hit the agency’s counterterrorism and counterintelligence hubs and reshape an office built after Sept. 11 to keep intelligence flowing across the U.S. government. Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, started firing employees after President Donald Trump ordered an immediate downsizing and told him to send staff back to their home agencies.

Pulte, who also leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency and has no known prior intelligence experience, had already asked for a list of every ODNI employee when he arrived early at the office, according to people familiar with the matter. Reports had indicated that he was looking at cuts of about 300 positions, and sources said the National Counterterrorism Center and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center were expected to be hit hard.

The layoffs have sharpened concerns inside Congress about whether the intelligence apparatus is being remade around loyalty rather than mission. Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned in a June 22 letter that large cuts could jeopardize national security and that major structural changes should not be made by an acting official without consulting Congress. Warner has also publicly argued that Pulte’s appointment threatens the integrity and independence of the intelligence community.

The dispute comes as lawmakers are already struggling over renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a surveillance authority central to U.S. intelligence collection. Senate Republican leaders, including John Thune, have also voiced concern about a “weaponized DNI,” underscoring how Pulte’s short tenure has become a flash point far beyond ODNI’s walls in Washington.

ODNI was created in the aftermath of the intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11 attacks. The 9/11 Commission called in July 2004 for a National Intelligence Director to improve coordination and information sharing, and Congress enacted the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which President George W. Bush signed on December 17, 2004. The office began operations on April 22, 2005, with the mission of overseeing the Intelligence Community and the National Intelligence Program, responsibilities that now sit at the center of the fight over whether the agency is being streamlined or hollowed out.