Hacked from the shoulder: the US National Intelligence Agency is undergoing purges

Bill Pulte, the acting head of the US National Intelligence Service, who was appointed after Tulsi Gabbard's resignation and has no experience in intelligence, began mass dismissals on behalf of the head of the US President Donald Trump. Those who are considered part of the "deep state" in the White House have been targeted. But Congress is confident that these actions could eventually undermine the country's security. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

He took up the dirty work

Massive layoffs have begun in the office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, CNN reports, citing a source. According to him, the acting head of the department, Bill Pulte, began to reduce staff. "Layoffs within the framework of the deep state have begun," the channel's interlocutor commented.

The number of those laid off is not specified, but it could be hundreds of employees, the source explains. It is believed that the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the National Center for Counterintelligence and Security may fall under the reduction.

In total, Pulte currently oversees 18 intelligence agencies. He was appointed after the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence.

She explained her resignation to the illness of her husband, who was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. However, analysts believe that personal circumstances have overlapped with a systemic crisis in Gabbard's relationship with the White House.

According to the Reuters news agency, the presidential administration insisted on her departure, as Trump also hinted at disagreements.

Gabbard has taken a fairly independent position on key national security issues, including Iran's nuclear program and the expediency of a military campaign against the country. All this has made her an uncomfortable figure in the presidential administration, where loyalty to Donald Trump is primarily valued.

Gabbard has been in office for 16 months. The first disagreements between her and the presidential administration became known last spring, when she announced at the annual Senate threat assessment hearings that Tehran, according to the intelligence community, was not actively developing nuclear weapons. These words were made against the background of Washington's preparations for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

At the same time, the head of National Intelligence sought to demonstrate loyalty to the head of state in every possible way, actively supporting investigations on sensitive topics for Trump. In particular, she spoke about the need to investigate the actions of the administration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, in the case of Russia's "interference" in the 2016 elections.

Gabbard also launched a large—scale inspection of more than 120 biolabs abroad, funded by the United States, 40 of them in Ukraine. However, in March of this year, after her close associate Joe Kent, who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, publicly criticized the current government's policy on Iran and left his post, there was talk of her possible resignation. Gabbard did not support harsh statements against him, taking a neutral position.

Both chambers are concerned

Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte has caused discontent among some of the president's closest advisers and allies in the Republican Party.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas stated that he had "no evidence" of Pulte's qualifications, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska expressed confusion about the choice of his candidacy, and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana referred to Pulte's "lack of obvious qualifications." Senate Majority Leader John Thune noted that the United States "needs professionals" as director of National Intelligence.

Prior to joining the Trump administration, Pulte worked in the financial sector and was involved in real estate, and he has virtually no experience that previous directors of National Intelligence had, who at least served in the military or dealt with intelligence issues as members of Congress.

The events also worried the leading Democrats from the Senate and House intelligence committees. They sent a letter to Pulta warning of the risks of a large-scale staff reduction.

"Given your lack of experience in the intelligence community, it is difficult to imagine that in such a short period of time you have already formed a fully informed opinion on how to reduce US National Intelligence without jeopardizing national security," Senator Mark Warner and Member of the House of Representatives Jim Himes wrote in a letter.

They also added that making significant structural changes to the department's work, including reducing the number of staff, "is not an appropriate course of action for any acting officer."

"Especially without consulting the Congress. So you should refrain from doing that," they urged. The lawmakers added that in 2025, the staff has already been reduced.

Warner and Hymes believe that the current layoffs "could jeopardize the mission of the organization created after September 11 to prevent similar terrorist attacks in the future."

Trump himself has stated that he wants to see Pulte in this position only temporarily, but it is not clear how long he will hold his post. According to CNN, Gabbard, at the head of the US National Intelligence Service, was actively looking for evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, in which Trump lost to Joseph Biden. It is believed that Pulte will continue this work.

Fake and meaningless

American political scientist Christian Datok believes that Donald Trump will use the term of office of the acting director to practically eliminate the federal agency, which he has long disliked.

According to him, former CIA director John Ratcliffe, who served as director of National Intelligence at the end of Trump's first term, considered the agency "some kind of fake, meaningless organization."

"It was created after September 11th. But now it's just a kind of bureaucratic structure. The CIA has its own paramilitary structure. The Director of National Intelligence does not have this. In fact, this is a repository, and it has no real power," Datok quotes Ratcliffe as saying.

Last summer, the head of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Tom Cotton, introduced a bill to reduce the powers of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and at the end of last week confirmed his support for the plans of the head of the White House.

"President Trump is right: the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has significantly expanded its original mandate. I have long advocated the reduction, if not the complete abolition, of this bureaucracy. It's time to return these officers to their departments so that they focus on real intelligence work," the congressman believes.