IC Workforce & Organization — 2026-07-29

Acting DNI Pulte Completes Fifth Round of ODNI Layoffs Leaving Agency at Roughly Half Strength

BLUFFive rapid reduction rounds without public functional accounting likely precede a sixth cut by mid-August, compressing ODNI's analytic bench before any Senate-confirmed director can assess the damage.

Acting DNI Bill Pulte announced on X that ODNI completed a fifth round of layoffs, calling it a "near final round" of terminations and stating staffing is down approximately 30% from where it stood weeks earlier 1; the announcement came hours before the Senate was scheduled to vote that evening on confirming Jay Clayton as permanent DNI 2. The cut came one day after Pulte's fourth round, announced Sunday, which he described as "thoughtful, measured layoffs" 23. Pulte did not specify the number of employees affected in either round or whether they were terminated, reassigned, or returned to their home agencies 3. The Washington Post has reported, citing data congressional aides shared from the administration, that roughly 200 ODNI employees were laid off or reassigned since June 1, and that the office now retains "little more than half" of the 2,000 staff it had at the start of the Trump administration, a figure ODNI has not confirmed 3.

Analysis
ODNI will likely announce a sixth round of cuts by August 15, given Pulte's near-weekly pace and his own description of the fifth round as "near final" rather than complete. Reporting rests almost entirely on Pulte's own X posts, amplified without independent verification, leaving Congress and IC oversight bodies unable to distinguish redundant-billet trims from erosion of analytic and collection capacity while Jay Clayton's confirmation remains pending. The fourth and fifth rounds landed a single day apart, compressing what had been a weeks-long cadence and pushing cumulative staffing losses to roughly 30 percent within weeks. Pulte's public framing may be aimed more at demonstrating aggressive downsizing to Trump and Senate overseers ahead of the confirmation vote than at reflecting a considered restructuring, and a sixth round would further narrow Clayton's window to reverse cuts to mission centers like cybersecurity and biosecurity before those functions dissolve outright. Moderate confidence reflects the consistent trend in Pulte's own statements but no independent verification of scale.

4 sources

National Intelligence completes fifth round of layoffs, slashing 30% of staff, Pulte says - Just The News
Acting DNI Pulte announces fresh wave of ODNI layoffs - Fox News
Acting spy chief says ODNI has made another round of cuts - Federal News Network
Executing a 5th and Near Final Round of TERMINATIONS, an approximately 30% Staff Reduction from Weeks Ago - DNI Pulte (X/Twitter)