Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
The acting spy chief, with no intelligence experience or security clearance, removes 51 ODNI staff in his first week
Bill Pulte was sworn in as acting director of national intelligence on June 19, 2026, and by June 23 had fired six staff and sent 45 back to their home agencies.
What happened
Bill Pulte, named acting director of national intelligence without intelligence experience or a security clearance, removed 51 staff from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in his first four days. He was sworn in on June 19, 2026. By June 23, CBS News reported, six career and political intelligence staff had been fired and 45 sent back to their home agencies.
Among them was William Ruger, the deputy DNI for mission integration, who was placed on leave. Trump had publicly directed Pulte to downsize the office. Ruger had overseen the President’s Daily Brief, and the removals came before Pulte had been in the job a week.
Pulte claimed he cut about 30 percent of ODNI’s workforce, and current and former officials said the real number was far lower. He left on August 3, when Jay Clayton was sworn in. Pulte, the housing-finance regulator, had run the office for about six weeks.
Who benefited
The White House got an intelligence chief who would carry out personnel cuts on command. Pulte got a cabinet-level platform he had sought, and allies who had promoted him, including Roger Stone, got a disruptor atop the intelligence community.
Who wanted something
Trump chose Pulte over the career principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, and told him to downsize the office. Sen. Tom Cotton had argued that detailees should return to their agencies. Pulte asked ODNI staff for lists of workers to fire before he took office.
Who lost out
Career intelligence officers, including the official in charge of the President’s Daily Brief, lost their posts or were pushed out without stated cause. For six weeks the agency that coordinates the intelligence community was run by an official without a clearance. Congress lost Section 702 surveillance authority during the standoff.
Why it matters
Fifty-one removals in a week is the lower, verified count, and it fell on the office that integrates the nation’s intelligence. ODNI was created to prevent the failures before September 11. It had already been cut from about 2,000 to 1,300 staff in 2025.
Sources CBS NewsWikipedia (cites CBS, Politico, NYT, WSJ)CNN