{"id":382,"date":"2026-06-23T23:09:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=382"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:09:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:09:45","slug":"days-into-his-new-job-pulte-raises-eyebrows-in-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=382","title":{"rendered":"Days into his new job, Pulte raises eyebrows in Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With Bill Pulte just days into his job acting director of national intelligence, senators on both sides of the aisle are already expressing concern about his performance.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court backs US power to strip green cards<\/a><\/p>\n

Pulte began Friday, after weeks of criticism over his appointment. On Monday, he\u00a0reportedly began firing intelligence officials and staff at the DNI en masse, causing issues with\u00a0some lawmakers who say it\u2019s not appropriate for an acting official, not confirmed by the Senate for that particular role, to do so.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced legislation\u00a0Tuesday that would lay out the hierarchy of the agency and bar\u00a0presidents from installing acting directors.<\/p>\n

The bill would require the principal deputy DNI \u2014 a Senate-confirmed position \u2014 to step in as acting head in future cases of vacancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is an intelligence failure, a missed threat, or a national security crisis on Bill Pulte\u2019s watch, Americans will pay the price, and President Trump will be to blame,\u201d the Virginia Democrat said in a press release. \u201cHe made the deliberate choice to pass over qualified national security professionals and put an unqualified loyalist in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence\u00a0Committee, wrote\u00a0to Pulte on Monday \u201cto express our expectation that you will not take actions while temporarily serving as the Acting Director of National Intelligence that are more appropriately left to a Senate-confirmed Director.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulte has been the center of controversy on Capitol Hill since Trump earlier this month tapped him to replace the now-former DNI\u00a0Tulsi Gabbard. Democrats have raised concerns about his lack of intelligence experience as well as his past referrals of some of Trump\u2019s perceived foes to the Department of Justice for mortgage fraud allegations in his role as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven your lack of experience within the Intelligence Community, it is difficult to imagine that in such a short amount of time you have already developed fully informed views as to how to shrink ODNI without incurring risks to national security,\u201d Warner and Himes wrote. \u201cMaking significant structural changes to ODNI, to include a reduction in force, is not an appropriate course of action for anyone in an acting capacity, let alone without consultation with Congress, and you should refrain from doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulte\u2019s appointment was controversial enough to spur Democrats to walk away earlier this month from a bipartisan deal to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, an authority that\u00a0Pulte would oversee in his role.<\/p>\n

After a vote in the House fell short, that authority expired June 12. The next week, Trump directed Jay Clayton, his permanent pick to be DNI director, not to appear for his confirmation hearing, which had been scheduled for June 17. A timeline for his confirmation remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Firings fallout<\/h2>\n

Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., largely defended the firings on Tuesday. \u201cODNI has employees mostly from other intelligence agencies,\u201d he said. \u201cI think, in most cases, they would be better off doing real intelligence work at those agencies. That\u2019s returning intelligence officers to their agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more When parties take victory laps too soon<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe ODNI is too big and too bloated,\u201d Cotton said.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said some aspects of ODNI can \u201cbe made more efficient, more effective, and streamlined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I think that\u2019s something that many of us agree on,\u201d the South Dakota Republican said. But \u201chow they go about that will be something we\u2019ll want some visibility into,\u201d he continued, saying Cotton and other Intelligence members \u201cwill have some input into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that there is a consensus view around here that it is time for the ODNI to be scaled down,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

Cotton said he \u201chas a plan for that. I\u2019ve worked with the administration on it. Some of it happened under Director Gabbard. It\u2019s going to continue under Acting Director Pulte.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we confirm Director Clayton, I\u2019m sure it will continue as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But some Republicans are wary of Pulte\u2019s actions during his first few days on the job.<\/p>\n

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., agreed Tuesday that if Pulte does proper analysis and \u201conly eliminates the people whose jobs can either be automated or never should have been there, good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my guess is based on his past experience, it\u2019s going to be another hot steaming pile of DOGE shit,\u201d Tillis continued, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s an incompetent sycophant and not the right person to lead DNI and you\u2019re undermining what the confirmed administrator should be doing,\u201d said Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term.<\/p>\n

Clayton, Tillis said, is \u201cgoing to inherit what I believe is going to be a mess left behind by Pulte.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Bipartisan housing package OK\u2019d in Senate; House up next<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Bill Pulte just days into his job acting director of national intelligence, senators on both sides of the aisle are already expressing concern about his performance. Pulte began Friday, after weeks of criticism over his appointment. On Monday, he\u00a0reportedly began firing intelligence officials and staff at the DNI en masse, causing issues with\u00a0some lawmakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nDays into his new job, Pulte raises eyebrows in Senate - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=382\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Days into his new job, Pulte raises eyebrows in Senate - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Bill Pulte just days into his job acting director of national intelligence, senators on both sides of the aisle are already expressing concern about his performance. 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