The large-scale cuts that President Donald Trump’s acting director of national intelligence had been considering imposing at his own office started on Monday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Background
Bill Pulte, Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence in an acting capacity, was looking at cutting hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Last week, Pulte showed up to his new job a day early after asking for a list of every employee in the office, sources told CNN, catching even outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard off-guard.
The firings came as top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees sent a letter on Monday to Pulte warning him of the risks of making large cuts to the workforce. Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes wrote, “We are concerned by reports that you intend to fire or place on leave hundreds of Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) officers as soon as this week.”
They continued, “Given your lack of experience within the Intelligence Community, it is difficult to imagine that in such a short amount of time you have already developed fully informed views as to how to shrink ODNI without incurring risks to national security.”
When asked about the firings, a White House official pointed to Trump’s recent post on Truth Social in which he telegraphed “downsizing” in the office.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
