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Trump directs acting DNI Pulte to start firing intelligence community personnel

In a Wall Street Journal interview published June 5, 2026, President Trump said he has directed newly installed acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to "start the process" of firing national-security personnel and to make the intelligence community smaller, framing the targets as career officials who served under the Biden and Obama administrations. Trump said Pulte's "acting" status leaves him "less shackled" to execute rapid cuts, and indicated he does not intend to formally nominate Pulte — who has no national-security background — for the permanent role.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 5, 2026, President Trump used a Wall Street Journal interview to confirm that he has directed his newly installed acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, to begin firing national-security personnel and to shrink the intelligence community. Trump described the office as "unnecessary and/or too big" and characterized its workforce as holdovers from the Biden and Obama administrations who "shouldn't be there." He said he wants any eventual permanent DNI to continue the effort.

Pulte, who previously ran the Federal Housing Finance Agency and has no national-security background, now oversees the 18 agencies of the intelligence community. Trump said Pulte's temporary "acting" status leaves him "less shackled" to carry out rapid personnel cuts, and indicated he does not plan to formally nominate Pulte for the role — a posture that keeps the office under an unconfirmed loyalist while the firings proceed.

The directive is an executive effort to hollow out a congressionally established intelligence function by fiat, purging career staff based on which prior administration they served and bending the intelligence community toward political loyalty rather than independent analysis. It builds on the contested elevation of Pulte to acting DNI earlier in the week, which had already drawn bipartisan Senate resistance and stalled reauthorization of a FISA surveillance program. As of this recording the firings are a publicly confirmed presidential directive being initiated rather than completed; the directive itself is the archivable action, and any resulting dismissals may warrant a follow-on entry.

Why we recorded this

Congress established the intelligence community — 18 agencies under a Director of National Intelligence — to provide objective national-security analysis independent of which party holds power. Career professionals are deliberately insulated from electoral politics so their assessments reflect evidence rather than administration preferences. Directing mass firings based on which prior administration officers served, through an acting official installed specifically because he is unconfirmed and "less shackled," replaces institutional expertise with political loyalty and hollows out the independent analytical function Congress created. We record dismantling-agency-capacity when the executive uses appointment and removal power to disable a congressionally established function by fiat, and politicized-intelligence-appointments when unqualified loyalists are placed atop the intelligence community to bend it toward political ends.

Sources

  1. Pulte should start firing intelligence community officials, Trump says in a new interview — Associated Press (via Las Vegas Sun) primary accessed June 5, 2026
  2. Trump wants Bill Pulte to fire big chunk of national intelligence office staff: WSJ — CNBC primary accessed June 5, 2026
  3. Trump Urges Pulte to Fire Intelligence Community Employees, WSJ Reports — U.S. News & World Report (Reuters) secondary accessed June 5, 2026
  4. Trump confirms telling Bill Pulte to fire intelligence community employees — The Guardian secondary accessed June 5, 2026

See also