It's Happening: New DNI Chief Preps Mass Firings

Matt Vespa | June 23, 2026 3:00 PM

There were rumors that this could happen: mass layoffs when Tulsi Gabbard steps down as director of national intelligence. Well, she’s gone, and now Bill Pulte is in charge. The word on the street is that heads are going to roll. And it’s not going to be just a few people—it could be hundreds (via NBC News):

Bill Pulte, President Trump’s acting director of national intelligence, has reportedly begun dismissing staff members at the agency. pic.twitter.com/k0uitPkKt5
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 23, 2026

A wave of staff reductions at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence began on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter, days after Bill Pulte, a staunch loyalist to President Donald Trump, became acting director https://t.co/aOaBGqQGts
— Bloomberg (@business) June 23, 2026

President Donald Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, began purging staff members at the office Monday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
“The deep state firings have begun,” the source said.
CNN was first to report that the dismissals were underway.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump named Pulte the acting director this month and said on Truth Social that he had “asked him to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies.” Pulte, who has no background in national security matters, has been serving as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
A separate source with knowledge of the matter told NBC News over the weekend that Pulte had ordered staff members to identify 400 employees to be fired from the National Counterterrorism Center, which is part of the U.S. intelligence community, in the coming weeks.