IC Workforce & Organization — 2026-06-24

Acting DNI Pulte Forces Out Gabbard Deputy Will Ruger, Who Oversaw Presidential Daily Brief

BLUFPulte's purge of the PDB oversight chain during a leadership vacuum degrades the IC's ability to deliver coherent all-source analysis to the president at a period of elevated geopolitical risk.

Acting DNI Bill Pulte has removed Will Ruger, ODNI's deputy director for mission integration, as part of a purge that CBS News characterized as targeting the "deep state," according to Jewish Insider 1. Ruger oversaw the President's Daily Brief and, before entering government, held senior roles at Koch-network-affiliated organizations and was affiliated with the Defense Priorities think tank 1. He had publicly opposed maximum pressure sanctions against Iran and defended the 2015 nuclear deal prior to his appointment 1. Pulte has also dismissed five other ODNI staff and returned 45 to their home agencies following Trump's directive to extend cuts beyond those enacted under former DNI Gabbard 1.

Analysis
Removing the officer who curated the PDB confirms Pulte's cuts have reached the analytic coordination layer, not just administrative staff. Combined with five additional firings and 45 officers returned to home agencies, ODNI's collection-integration capacity is degraded without Senate-confirmed leadership and with no confirmed successor to Ruger's portfolio. Single-source reporting limits confidence in the rationale attributed to the action. Ruger's pre-appointment opposition to Iran maximum pressure and his public defense of the 2015 nuclear deal supports a reading that this was policy-driven rather than a structural workforce reduction.

1 sources

Acting DNI Pulte forces out top Gabbard deputy Will Ruger - Jewish Insider