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Acting DNI Pulte announced a third round of ODNI staff cuts, again declining to disclose numbers or positions affected

On July 10, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte announced on X that ODNI had begun a third round of staff reductions, describing the office as "reducing redundant, or non-critical, personnel." As with the prior rounds, Pulte did not disclose how many employees were affected, which positions were eliminated, or whether staff were fired outright or reassigned. The announcement followed the first round of firings on June 23 and preceded a fourth round on July 27.

Part of: Acting DNI Pulte's ODNI Staff Purge

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, DC

Abuses documented

Actors

On July 10, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte posted on X that ODNI had begun a third round of staff reductions: "U.S. National Intelligence is operating more efficiently and effectively than ever before, and today, we started a third round of reducing redundant, or non-critical, personnel." As with the prior rounds, Pulte did not disclose how many employees were affected, which positions or offices were targeted, or whether staff were terminated outright or reassigned to other agencies.

The announcement extended the pattern begun when Pulte assumed the acting DNI role on June 19, 2026: a June 22 directive ordering ODNI offices to rank personnel for cuts, followed by a first round of firings on June 23 that removed six political appointees and reassigned roughly 45 career officers. Wire reporting on the third round noted that a Reuters report had previously indicated ODNI staff were told to expect further cuts following President Trump's public comments about shrinking the agency. A fourth round followed on July 27, 2026.

Why we recorded this

Acting DNI Bill Pulte announced a third round of ODNI staff cuts on July 10, 2026, continuing a pattern begun with his June 22 directive and June 23 first-round firings. Recorded as its own event because it is a discrete, self-announced round in an ongoing, officially unquantified purge of the intelligence community's civil-service workforce — the kind of repeated, undocumented personnel action that resists public accountability precisely because no round is ever given a public count of who or how many.

Sources

  1. Official statement announcing the third round of ODNI staff reductions — Bill Pulte (Acting DNI), via X primary accessed July 28, 2026
  2. BREAKING: Bill Pulte's ODNI Purge Continues — Pulte Says "Third Round of Reducing Redundant, or Non-Critical, Personnel" Has Started — The Gateway Pundit secondary accessed July 28, 2026
  3. Acting Office of National Intelligence Director Pulte announces third round of layoffs at agency — Just the News secondary accessed July 28, 2026
  4. US acting spy chief announces new round of staff reductions — KFGO (wire) secondary accessed July 28, 2026

See also