Trump appointee Bill Pulte begins firings fueling concerns over acting DNI's powers

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's acting intelligence chief, Bill Pulte, began firing staff, quickly escalating concerns over the broad restructuring authority handed to the temporary appointee.

Democrats immediately pushed back. The move also revived bipartisan worries that Pulte lacks national security experience while wielding sweeping power over the intelligence community.

Pulte purges staff as Democrats challenge authority

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News that Pulte had started purging staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“The deep state firings have begun,” the source said, as per the report.

Bill Pulte speaks with reporters at the White House, Sept. 2, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Trump appointed Pulte to the acting role this month and wrote on Truth Social that he had “asked him to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies.”

Pulte, who runs the Federal Housing Finance Agency and has no background in national security, officially assumed the post after succeeding Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down for family reasons.

CNN first reported that the dismissals were underway. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a letter sent Monday, Rep Jim Himes, D-Conn, and Sen Mark Warner, D-Va, said they were “concerned by reports that you intend to fire or place on leave hundreds of Office of the Director of National Intelligence officers as soon as this week.”

“Making 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,” they wrote.

Counterterrorism cuts raise fresh alarms

A separate source told NBC News that Pulte had directed staff to identify 400 employees at the National Counterterrorism Center for dismissal in the coming weeks.

According to the source, Pulte issued the order before formally replacing Gabbard.

He planned reductions to target an office created after the September 11, 2001, attacks to track terrorist threats and coordinate intelligence across federal agencies.

Former intelligence officials have warned that cuts at the center could undermine the government's ability to detect and prevent terrorist plots.

Bill Pulte's appointment faced bipartisan scrutiny

Himes and Warner noted that the intelligence office had already undergone a “substantial downsizing” in 2025 during the Trump administration's broader workforce reductions.

A Government Accountability Office report released this month found that about 256,000 federal workers, or 11% of the workforce, had been let go in 2025.

An August document said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had already reduced staffing by nearly 30%, or “more than 500 staffers,” during Gabbard's first six months and was aiming to push that figure to 50%.

Trump had said Pulte would not stay permanently and named Southern District of New York US Attorney Jay Clayton as his choice, but then asked Senate Republicans to delay action on Clayton's nomination until a replacement US attorney is installed.