Trump Says ODNI Is ‘Too Big,’ Wants Bill Pulte To Shrink Intelligence Office

President Donald Trump says he wants acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to dramatically shrink the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, arguing the agency has become bloated and filled with people who “shouldn’t be there.”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump praised Pulte’s temporary appointment to the powerful intelligence role and suggested the acting designation could actually give him more freedom to shake up the federal 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 of the ODNI.

The president added that Pulte’s temporary status could make it easier for him to aggressively restructure the office before a permanent nominee eventually takes over.

“You’re less shackled,” Trump said. “It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time.”

“Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,” Trump added. “Because, if he reduced the size, in conjunction with me … and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in … he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in.”

Pulte will continue serving simultaneously as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency while overseeing the nation’s intelligence apparatus on an acting basis. His tenure at ODNI is capped at 210 days under federal law.

The appointment has already sparked pushback from some Republicans on Capitol Hill, with critics questioning whether Pulte has the intelligence background needed for the role.

Still, Trump appears to view Pulte as a disruptive outsider capable of carrying out sweeping reforms across the intelligence community.

At one point during the interview, Trump compared the ODNI to the Department of Education, another federal bureaucracy he has repeatedly targeted for downsizing or elimination.

“We’ve made the Department of Education much smaller, and likewise, this should be much smaller,” Trump said, referring to the ODNI. “And this should maybe even be terminated, and we’ll make that decision.”

Watch the clip below:

NEWS: President Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Friday that he wants his incoming Acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, to carry out mass firings of employees in the U.S. intelligence community, describing the Office of the Director of… pic.twitter.com/CZqcPxpLQ9

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) June 5, 2026