Keeping the country safe depends on qualified people leading the agencies that warn us about danger. The man now running ours is not qualified, and he is firing the people who are.
Bill Pulte runs the federal housing-finance agency. He has never worked in intelligence or national security. Federal law, 50 U.S.C. 3023, says the director of national intelligence must have extensive national security expertise. Pulte does not have it, and legal scholars say his appointment is contrary to the law that created the office. Republicans agree. Senator Mitch McConnell warned the job requires that expertise, and Senator John Cornyn said he saw no evidence of any qualifications for it.
Now Pulte has begun firing hundreds of staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That office coordinates all 18 of our intelligence agencies, and it already lost about 40 percent of its workforce last year. He is a temporary, unconfirmed appointee making sweeping, permanent cuts.
This is how warnings get missed. Pushing out experienced analysts erases institutional memory, slows threat reporting, and weakens the coordination that keeps agencies working from the same picture.
I am asking you to call for Bill Pulte's removal as acting director of national intelligence, and to insist the position be filled by a qualified, Senate-confirmed nominee. Until then, demand that the firings stop.
Please do not let an unqualified, temporary official hollow out the office meant to keep us safe.
