President Trump’s acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte announced Saturday evening on social media: “Since becoming Acting Director of National Intelligence, our team has been smartly, and carefully, reducing the size of ODNI, re-focusing ODNI on national security, the law, and the statute. As of this evening, we just finished a 4th round of thoughtful, measured layoffs. Thank you!”
[NOTE: The Washington Post reported last week that the agency had “quietly cut about 200 jobs since June 1,” and that the office “is now little more than half” the size it was at the start of Trump’s second term, which was approximately 2,000 employees.]
Since becoming Acting Director of National Intelligence, our team has been smartly, and carefully, reducing the size of ODNI, re-focusing ODNI on national security, the law, and the statute. As of this evening, we just finished a 4th round of thoughtful, measured layoffs. Thank…
— DNI Pulte (@DNIPulte) July 27, 2026
While some MAGA supporters are responding with comments like “this is what I voted for,” others are replying with criticism of Pulte (who lacks national security experience) and of the decision to continue to cut national security staff while the U.S. is at war with Iran.
As one wrote: “I’m not sure that it’s a great idea to create chaos inside of an intelligence agency while we are at war with the biggest supporter of terrorism on the planet and have countless tens of thousands of terrorists that have slipped across our borders. Just gonna throw that out there.”
[NOTE: After strong bipartisan pushback in the Senate against Trump’s nomination of Pulte for DNI, the President dropped him for U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, who at his Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation refused to say that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. The committee approved his nomination (9-8), moving it to a full Senate vote.]