By admin 
- Firings have begun at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a source tells CNN.
- Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, had been considering cutting jobs after Trump asked him to downsize the office and revert staff to home agencies.
- Top Democrats warned the cuts risk jeopardizing an organization created after 9/11 to prevent future terrorist attacks.
The large-scale cuts that President Donald Trump’s acting director of national intelligence had been considering imposing at his own office started on Monday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
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“The deep state firings have begun,” the source said, declining to give details on how many jobs had been cut.
Sources had previously told CNN that Bill Pulte, Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence in an acting capacity, was looking at cutting hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Last week, Pulte showed up to his new job a day early after asking for a list of every employee in the office, sources told CNN, catching even outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard off-guard.
The firings came as top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees sent a letter on Monday to Pulte warning him of the risks of making large cuts to the workforce.
Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes wrote, “We are concerned by reports that you intend to fire or place on leave hundreds of Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) officers as soon as this week.”
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“While there is room to consider responsible reductions to ODNI’s workforce, any large cuts would follow on a substantial downsizing that has already occurred in 2025 and risk jeopardizing the mission of an organization explicitly created after 9/11 to prevent any future such terrorist attack,” the lawmakers wrote.
They continued, “Given your lack of experience within the Intelligence Community, it is difficult to imagine that in such a short amount of time you have already developed fully informed views as to how to shrink ODNI without incurring risks to national security. Making significant structural changes to ODNI, to include a reduction in force, is not an appropriate course of action for anyone in an acting capacity, let alone without consultation with Congress, and you should refrain from doing so.”
When asked about the firings, a White House official pointed to Trump’s recent post on Truth Social in which he telegraphed “downsizing” in the office.
“I have named William Pulte to be Acting Director of National Intelligence, who will take over on June 19th, and have asked him to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies,” Trump wrote.
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CNN has reached out to ODNI for comment.
Pulte was in the Oval Office as Trump signed executive orders on Monday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.