On Air Force One, President Donald Trump expressed his desire for Bill Pulte, the new acting director of national intelligence, to reduce the size of the office. Trump emphasized that the office had been overly large for too long, stating, “He’ll do a very good job.”
Bill Pulte, previously head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, had been directed by Trump to initiate employee firings. Despite lacking national security expertise, Pulte was instructed to streamline the office, which Trump deemed overstaffed with officials from previous Democratic administrations.
In a conversation with The Wall Street Journal, Trump outlined his plan for Pulte to tackle personnel reductions, a task he hoped would continue under the eventual permanent director. Trump explained, “If he reduced the size…he can do a lot of the hard work.”
The appointment of Pulte met bipartisan resistance in the Senate, delaying the renewal of a key national security surveillance program. Democrats remained skeptical of Pulte’s ability to manage the program effectively.
Trump, traveling to Wisconsin, mentioned several potential successors for the director position, describing them as respected, unnamed figures known in the intelligence community.
The office experienced prior reductions under Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, whose tenure saw significant budget cuts and workforce downsizing. Gabbard, who claimed the office had become “bloated and inefficient,” resigned following the news of her husband’s cancer diagnosis.