President Donald Trump is directing acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to cut staff and reorganize the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, an agency Trump has described internally as unnecessary bureaucracy, according to administration officials.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he instructed Pulte to begin the process of firing personnel and “shake it up” during his short tenure as acting DNI.
The moves align with Trump’s long-held view that the ODNI should not exist in its current form.
The office was created by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the 18 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community and improve information sharing.
Before 2004, the CIA director also served as director of central intelligence with oversight responsibilities.
One former senior Trump White House official described the DNI role as “a fake, bulls*** agency” and “a bureaucratic warehouse.”
The CIA, by contrast, maintains its own collection capabilities and paramilitary forces, while the ODNI functions primarily as a coordinating body without similar operational authority.
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Staff Cuts Underway
ODNI staffing has declined steadily. The office had roughly 2,000 employees at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017. That number fell to about 1,700 by the beginning of his second term.
Outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard reduced staff by an additional 50 percent during her time in the position.
Pulte, who previously served as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, lacks intelligence community experience. He is not expected to hold the job long-term.
Trump has not yet announced a permanent nominee, though speculation has included Rep. Rick Crawford and others.
A veteran adviser to Trump said the president has believed for years that the CIA should oversee the intelligence community without the added layer of the ODNI.
During the transition period before his second inauguration, Trump openly considered ways to reduce or sideline the office.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has supported the effort. “President Trump is right: the ODNI has grown far beyond its original mandate,” Cotton posted on X. “I’ve long advocated for downsizing, if not outright eliminating, this bureaucracy. Time to return these officers back to their home agencies to focus on actual intelligence work.”
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Cabinet Status and Legislative Barriers
Trump elevated the DNI position to Cabinet level during his first term. Officials said the goal at the time was to exert tighter control over the intelligence apparatus. Some now view that decision as a misstep that expanded the bureaucracy rather than constraining it.
Eliminating the ODNI entirely would require congressional action to amend the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. That legislation also bars the CIA director or heads of other intelligence agencies from simultaneously serving as DNI. Passing major changes in an election year is considered unlikely.
Former CIA Director John Brennan, who has been sharply critical of Trump in the past, said on MSNBC that the office could be streamlined but warned against aggressive cuts by inexperienced leadership.
“Does the legislation need to be tweaked a bit? I would argue yes,” Brennan said. “But having a Bill Pulte come in without any experience or understanding of the intelligence community… I don’t see that he’s going to have the capability and the insight and the experience to be able to do this effectively and not hurt our national security.”
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