IC Workforce & Leadership — 2026-07-04

Acting DNI Pulte Begins Mass Purge Notifying Dozens of ODNI Officials of Termination

BLUFUnlikely to face judicial reversal within 90 days absent named plaintiffs, the purge strips ODNI of institutional expertise and accelerates its reduction to a pass-through for agency reporting.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte began notifying dozens of ODNI officials of their terminations on Thursday, according to an intelligence official cited by MS NOW 12. CNBC reported the same account, noting the firings target career officials the administration believes are withholding complete intelligence assessments from leadership, whom officials characterize as "deep state" 3. The move follows Pulte's removal of six political appointees under former DNI Tulsi Gabbard two weeks earlier and comes after Trump installed Pulte as acting DNI on June 19 3. Four former senior officials told MS NOW, as relayed by Raw Story and Conservative Treehouse, that they had never known ODNI staff to withhold intelligence from superiors, and one questioned how Pulte, who has no intelligence background, could identify such conduct within weeks of arriving 14. One likened the purge to "taking over a hospital and firing dozens of surgeons in a matter of days," while another dismissed the withholding allegation as "a fantasy" that harms national security 14.

Analysis
The purge is unlikely to face a court order blocking or reinstating terminated ODNI officials within 90 days, absent named plaintiffs or filed litigation. Low confidence reflects single-source origination and the absence of any filed lawsuit, named plaintiff, or retained counsel as of publication. The stated "deep state" rationale rests on assertions from anonymous leadership sources, not documented instances of withholding, and multiple former officials with institutional knowledge of ODNI workflows dispute that such conduct occurs. Pulte's removal of career officials without intelligence background compounds the earlier ouster of Gabbard-era political appointees, deepening the office's dependence on the eighteen agencies it draws analysis from rather than collects itself. The purge parallels the separate firings for alleged intelligence withholding and the 4th Circuit reinstatement order on the earlier DEI-related terminations.

5 sources