Newsletters
President Donald Trump's acting director of national intelligence has begun firing employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), with hundreds of jobs expected to be affected, according to reports by ABC News and CNN.
Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no intelligence experience, took over the agency late last week and had promised to cut hundreds of jobs at the ODNI once in the role.
It was not immediately clear how many jobs had already been affected. Sources told ABC News that the National Counterterrorism Center was expected to be hit hard, while CNN reported that both the National Counterterrorism Center (NSTC) and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) were expected to face major cuts.
"The deep state firings have begun," a source told CNN, which first reported the news of the terminations.
Trump has made clear that he wants Pulte to cut jobs at the agency.
Earlier this month, Trump said the size of the ODNI had been "way too high for way too long" and told reporters he would not mind if cuts were made.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Trump also said he wanted Pulte to "start the process" of firing ODNI personnel and cited his role as acting director as "less shackled," according to the paper.
CNN reported that Pulte showed up to his new job a day early last week after asking for a list of every employee in the office, apparently catching outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard off guard.
Pulte took over the agency last Friday, and Monday marked only his second full day on the job.
Trump had previously announced he was nominating U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton to permanently lead the ODNI, amid backlash from Democrats and Republicans over Pulte's appointment as acting director.
Trump then abruptly announced last week that Clayton's confirmation process would not continue until Jamie McDonald, his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is confirmed.
The firings were carried out despite warnings from top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, who sent a letter to Pulte on Monday warning of the risks of major workforce cuts, according to CNN.
"We are 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," Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes wrote in their letter.
"While there is room to consider responsible reductions to ODNI's workforce, any large cuts would follow on a substantial downsizing that has already occurred in 2025 and risk jeopardizing the mission of an organization explicitly created after 9/11 to prevent any future such terrorist attack," they said.
A separate source told NBC News that Pulte had ordered staff members to identify 400 employees to be fired from the NCTC in the coming weeks.
Those cuts have raised concerns among lawmakers in both the House and Senate because the counterterrorism unit was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to monitor terrorist threats and suspected militants and to pool information from across federal agencies.
Former intelligence officials told NBC News that the mass staffing reductions "could jeopardize the government's ability to detect and prevent terrorist plots."
Warner and Himes also raised concerns about Pulte's lack of intelligence experience.
"Given 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," they wrote.
They said major structural changes at the ODNI, including workforce reductions, were not appropriate for someone serving in an acting capacity, especially without consultation with Congress, and urged Pulte to refrain from doing so.
Pulte's appointment attracted controversy in Congress because he has no background in intelligence.
He is best known in the Trump administration for launching investigations into several of the president's perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority.
Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They have all denied wrongdoing.
Pulte's appointment also led to the lapse of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant.
Asked about the firings, the White House also pointed to Trump's recent social media post saying he had asked Pulte "to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies."
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
