Trump downsizes US intelligence under interim chief Pulte: overdue reform, or politicizing the spies?
President Trump has directed interim national intelligence chief Bill Pulte to downsize the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and is sticking with him despite a looming lapse in surveillance powers. The administration frames it as cutting a bloated bureaucracy; critics — Democrats and even some Republicans — call Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no intelligence background, unqualified and warn the move politicizes US intelligence.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
Trump is shrinking the ODNI and standing by interim chief Bill Pulte, casting it as overdue streamlining of a bloated intelligence bureaucracy — even as a lapse in surveillance powers (FISA) looms.
Democrats — and even some Republicans, such as Rep. McCaul — call Pulte unqualified for the role, noting he has no intelligence background, and warn that shrinking and reshaping the ODNI under a Trump loyalist politicizes and weakens US intelligence.
