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Bill Pulte, President Trump’s newly installed acting Director of National Intelligence, has wasted no time shaking up the intelligence community. Dozens of career officials began receiving termination notices Thursday, with leadership claiming these individuals were part of the so-called “deep state” and had been withholding intelligence from senior officials.
The purge comes just weeks after Pulte removed six political appointees who served under former DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Now the firings have expanded to career professionals, not just political hires, signaling a broader housecleaning at the ODNI.
According to an intelligence official speaking anonymously to MS NOW out of fear of reprisal, the terminations are happening because Pulte and his team believe certain officials haven’t been providing complete intelligence pictures when requested. The official characterized those being targeted as people suspected of being “part of the deep state.”
Here’s where it gets complicated. Four former senior intelligence officials told reporters they’ve never heard of intelligence officers withholding information from leadership above them. One called the premise “absurd.” Another questioned how Pulte, who has no prior intelligence experience, could make such determinations so quickly. The comparison they offered is striking: it would be like taking over a hospital and firing dozens of surgeons within days.
The ODNI itself doesn’t collect intelligence directly. It receives information from the CIA, NSA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and fifteen other agencies. If information were truly being withheld, CIA Director John Ratcliffe would likely be the first to know, given his position in Trump’s inner circle.
Career intelligence officers take their oaths seriously. The overwhelming majority approach their work in a nonpolitical way and deeply resent being cast as partisan actors. One former official noted that while intelligence professionals hold diverse political views, they pride themselves on delivering unvarnished facts regardless of who’s in the White House.
Pulte’s rapid escalation raises questions about due process and whether these terminations are based on concrete evidence of misconduct or political suspicion. When you start purging career civil servants based on vague accusations of “deep state” activity, you’re not just removing individuals, you’re sending a chilling message to everyone who remains.
Is this about rooting out genuine obstruction, or is it about installing loyalists who will deliver the intelligence narrative the administration wants to hear? The distinction matters enormously for national security. Intelligence that tells leaders what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear has led nations into catastrophe before.
What’s clear is that Pulte is moving fast, perhaps faster than anyone anticipated. The intelligence community is watching closely, and America’s adversaries are surely taking notes.
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