Trump wants new intelligence chief to start firing employees
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump wants new intelligence chief to start firing employees")
US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)
Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence has drawn scrutiny because he will oversee 18 US intelligence agencies despite having no prior intelligence experience.
US President Donald Trump on Friday (June 05) endorsed potential staff reductions across the nation's intelligence apparatus, defending his decision to appoint loyalist Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence despite criticism over his lack of intelligence experience.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he would support job cuts under Pulte's leadership.
"If he cut, I wouldn't mind that," Trump said, arguing that staffing levels within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had been "way too high for way too long."
Pulte, who currently leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was selected earlier this week to temporarily replace Tulsi Gabbard as the country's top intelligence official. The role oversees the operations of 18 US intelligence agencies.
In a separate interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump reiterated his desire to shrink the intelligence bureaucracy.
"I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there," Trump said, claiming that some employees were holdovers from the administrations of former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
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The controversy comes as the administration continues a broader effort to reshape the federal workforce.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order making it easier to dismiss thousands of senior federal employees. The directive, issued jointly by the White House and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), removes job protections for roughly 8,000 high-ranking officials involved in developing or influencing public policy.
Many of the positions affected carry salaries approaching $200,000 annually.
Workforce overhaul continues
The latest move reflects Trump's long-running push to remove or discipline career officials he believes have obstructed his policy agenda.
Government figures show that more than 348,000 federal employees, representing over 11 per cent of the workforce, have left government service since October 2024.
The restructuring effort has continued even after billionaire Elon Musk stepped away last year from his role overseeing initiatives aimed at reducing government spending and payroll costs.
Earlier in Trump's presidency, the administration also launched the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a cost-cutting programme co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
