Firings now underway at Office of Director of National Intelligence, source says

By Kristen Holmes, CNN

(CNN) — 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.

“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.

A source familiar with the matter told CNN that the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center were expected to be hit hard by the cuts.

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.”

“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.

CNN has reached out to ODNI for comment.

Pulte was in the Oval Office as Trump signed executive orders on Monday. When he showed up to work a day early last week, he met with lawyers and staffers.

As director of national intelligence, Pulte oversees 18 intelligence agencies. His appointment irked some of Trump’s closest advisers and allies and caused significant consternation on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers raced to try to confirm Jay Clayton, now the US attorney in Manhattan, to the position permanently, only to have Trump abruptly end Clayton’s participation in a confirmation hearing.

Trump has previously said he wanted Pulte in the role only temporarily, but it is unclear how long that might be. Gabbard had used the post in part to hunt for evidence of voter fraud around the 2020 election that Trump lost, and some fear Pulte will escalate those efforts.

When she served in the post, Gabbard had dozens of photos of herself posted throughout the corridors of the DNI offices in northern Virginia. Two sources told CNN those photos had all been removed as of Monday. The photos were shot by her husband, who is a photographer.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Katie Bo Lillis contributed to this report.