Trump chooses Bill Pulte in Fisa intelligence pick
President Trump chose Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence on Tuesday, putting the head of a federal housing agency in charge of a post tied to fisa and the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Susan Collins and Mark Warner said they do not even know whether he has been authorized to handle classified information.
That choice sends a housing official with no known national security background into a job created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to oversee and coordinate agencies including the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. The office was built to keep intelligence work aligned; Congress said it helped prevent catastrophic terrorist attacks since 2001.
Bill Pulte and classified access
Pulte’s new role is the immediate break from that model. Senators Collins, a Republican from Maine, and Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said they do not know whether he has been authorized to handle classified information, a basic requirement for anyone placed at the center of the intelligence system.
The concern is not only about experience. Pulte has no known background in national security, yet he is now positioned to oversee the office responsible for coordinating the country’s intelligence agencies. Tulsi Gabbard was his predecessor.
Last summer’s social media posts
Last summer, Pulte posted more than 100 times about Jerome Powell. In one post, he wrote that Powell “should RESIGN” and that he “doesn’t like our Great President”. Those posts are now part of the scrutiny around his appointment because they show the political style he brought into other work before he was chosen for the intelligence post.
He also asked the Justice Department to investigate Letitia James, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook. To aid those inquiries, he obtained documents from Fannie Mae, then presided over the firing of Fannie Mae officials who tried to investigate his conduct.
Trump, Pulte and ODNI
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence sits above agencies that include the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. Since its creation after Sept. 11, 2001, the office has been used to give the president a coordinated view of threats and operations. Pulte’s selection places that portfolio in the hands of a figure described in the source as unqualified and partisan.
For senators, the immediate issue is not future policy but access: whether the acting director can be given the clearance needed to do the job. For the intelligence system, the question is whether the office that coordinates it will function as designed or become another arm of political conflict.
