Trump's new acting intel chief Bill Pulte arrives early, eyes firing hundreds

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Jun 19, 2026, 8:50 AM ET
PUBLISHED Jun 19, 2026, 4:00 AM ET


President Donald Trump’s pick for acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, showed up at his new job a day early on Thursday after asking for a list of every employee in the office so he could assess whether to fire them, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The sources said Pulte is eyeing to cut hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Pulte’s appearance at ODNI on Thursday caught staff off-guard, including the outgoing director, Tulsi Gabbard, who was given a brief heads up on the visit. Trump himself has said that Pulte, who is a Trump loyalist with no intelligence experience, would start his job on Friday. Pulte met with lawyers and staffers during his visit, the sources told CNN.

In his only other briefing with ODNI last week, Pulte asked staff if he could bring the President’s Daily Brief to his house, raising alarm bells among intelligence officials, according to one of the sources. That briefing is a highly classified set of intelligence on key national security matters of the day. The second source pushed back on this characterization, noting that the PDB is provided electronically. The PDB is generally offered to select officials via tablet or hard copy.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/bill-pulte-intel-chief-takes-office