Trump urges acting intelligence chief to cut staff further

President Donald Trump said on Friday. June 6, that he wants newly appointed acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to reduce the size of the office, which has already undergone significant cuts during his second term.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Wisconsin for an agriculture event, Trump said the agency’s staffing levels had been excessive. “He’ll do a very good job,” Trump said. “He’ll watch it closely, but Bill Pulte is very good; he’s very talented.” He added that the size of the office has been “way too large for way too long” and that “if he cut, I wouldn’t mind that.”

In an earlier interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said he had asked Pulte to begin dismissing personnel. “I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump said, referring, according to the newspaper, to intelligence officials who served under Democratic administrations led by Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Trump said he wants Pulte to “start the process” of reducing staff, with the expectation that a future permanent director would continue the effort. The president indicated he does not plan to formally nominate Pulte for the role. “Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,” Trump said. “Because, if he (Pulte) 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.”

Pulte, who previously led the Federal Housing Finance Agency and lacks a background in national security, was appointed earlier this week in a move that has drawn bipartisan resistance in the Senate. Lawmakers’ concerns have complicated efforts to renew a key national security surveillance program, with Democrats expressing distrust in Pulte, whose office oversees 18 intelligence agencies.

Trump said Pulte would remain in the post until a successor is confirmed and noted he is considering five candidates, describing them as “all very good” and “very respected people,” without naming them.

Under Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, the office had already been downsized. In August, the administration announced plans to cut more than $700 million annually from its budget and reduce its workforce by roughly 40%. Gabbard said at the time the office had become “bloated and inefficient.” She resigned last month after disclosing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

By Tamilla Hasanova