Trump Orders Acting DNI to Clean House at Nation’s Intel Agencies

President Donald J. Trump is signaling that acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte should begin moving quickly to shrink and reform the nation’s sprawling intelligence bureaucracy, including removing entrenched holdovers from prior administrations before a permanent replacement is chosen.

Pulte stepped into the acting DNI role after Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation, immediately drawing attention because he can serve temporarily without Senate confirmation under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

That temporary authority places him over the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the 18 agencies it coordinates, including the FBI and CIA.

For President Trump, Pulte’s acting status is not a weakness. It is part of the strategy.

“I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal.

The president later made his expectations even clearer while speaking with reporters, saying he wants Pulte to begin reducing the size of the intelligence structure and removing officials he sees as part of Washington’s entrenched bureaucracy.

“I’d like him to fire a lot of people,” Trump said Friday.

Trump argued that Pulte’s temporary role gives him a degree of flexibility that a permanent nominee might not immediately have.

“You’re less shackled,” Trump said. “It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time.”

The president suggested that Pulte could take on the difficult work of personnel and structural reform now, making it easier for whoever eventually assumes the role permanently.

“Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,” Trump said.

“Because, if he reduced the size, in conjunction with me and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in, he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in.”

As acting DNI, Pulte is now responsible for overseeing one of the most powerful intelligence systems in the world. The office coordinates a vast network of agencies, manages roughly $100 billion in annual intelligence spending and provides the president with highly classified national security briefings.

The role also gives Pulte significant influence over classified information and potential declassification decisions.

Trump said he wants Pulte to examine additional classified records tied to the 2020 election and allegations of voter fraud.

“I would say everything—he should look at everything and make a determination,” Trump said.

Pulte previously served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and reportedly spent recent weeks pursuing the intelligence post after Gabbard left the administration.

Before entering government, Pulte was known as a businessman and social media figure. Since joining the Trump administration, he has become one of the president’s trusted officials and a favorite among those who believe Washington’s permanent bureaucracy needs a serious overhaul.

Supporters say Pulte’s lack of a conventional intelligence background may actually work in his favor. To them, an outsider is better positioned to confront career officials who have accumulated enormous power inside agencies that are supposed to answer to elected leadership.

The appointment fits squarely within President Trump’s broader effort to reduce the size of the federal workforce, eliminate waste and restore accountability across the executive branch.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has pursued agency reorganizations, workforce reductions and management reforms aimed at limiting the influence of unelected bureaucrats.

A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence signaled support for that mission.

“We look forward to working with Mr. Pulte and President Trump on additional initiatives to advance savings and root out deep state bad actors,” the spokesman said.

Critics, particularly Democrats, have argued that placing someone without traditional intelligence experience in charge of the nation’s intelligence apparatus raises national security concerns.

They have also questioned whether a temporary appointee should have broad authority over agencies responsible for gathering intelligence, analyzing global threats and protecting the country from foreign adversaries.

But supporters argue that this is exactly why Pulte is needed. They believe the intelligence community has spent years resisting accountability, expanding its reach and becoming too insulated from the Americans it is supposed to serve.

For President Trump, Pulte’s appointment is not merely an interim personnel move. It is another front in his larger effort to challenge the permanent Washington establishment, rein in powerful federal agencies and restore control of the executive branch to elected leadership.

If Pulte follows through, the intelligence community could face one of the most aggressive shakeups in modern history.