Acting Intelligence Director Begins Personnel Changes at ODNI

Bill Pulte has begun dismissing senior personnel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in his first days as acting director. The statute that established the position states that the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence “shall act for, and exercise the powers of” the director when the post is vacant.

Aaron Lukas currently holds the deputy position and meets the national-security experience requirement listed in the law. Pulte also serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The law requires the acting director to have extensive national-security experience, which Pulte does not have.

Several career officers and political appointees at ODNI have received notices to return to their home agencies. William Ruger, a senior official and former president of a libertarian think tank, is among those already dismissed. Officials familiar with the matter said lists of budget priorities are being prepared to help determine further staffing decisions.

A few dozen employees have so far been directed back to their originating agencies. Zachary West, a former Justice Department official now at Protect Democracy, stated that career employees could challenge dismissals on the grounds that Pulte lacks authority to terminate them.

Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, announced her resignation last month after reducing staff by roughly 500 positions, close to the 40 percent cut she had pledged. She had described the office as inefficient. The ODNI was created more than twenty years ago to improve coordination among intelligence agencies following the September 11 attacks.

In practice, it has functioned as an additional bureaucratic layer with limited influence over member agencies. Senator Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on X that the office has grown beyond its original mandate and supported returning personnel to their home agencies.