Politics

Jun 5, 2026 9:25 PM EDT

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - President Donald Trump said Friday that he wants his new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, to reduce the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during his second term.

Trump noted that the size of the office has been excessive for an extended period and that further reductions would not concern him.

"He will do a very good job," Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Wisconsin for an agriculture event. "He will watch it closely, but Bill Pulte is very good, he is very talented."

The Republican president said in an earlier interview with The Wall Street Journal that he has asked Pulte to begin the process of dismissing employees. In the interview, Trump said he has already shared his view with Pulte, who has served as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency but has no apparent national security expertise.

"I would like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that should not be there," Trump said, which the Journal reported was in reference to intelligence community officials who had served in the Democratic administrations of Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Trump told the Journal that he wants Pulte to start the process of firing personnel and that the eventual permanent director of national intelligence should continue it. The president has indicated that he would not formally nominate Pulte for the position.

"Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come," Trump said. "Because, if he (Pulte) 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 would not have to saddle somebody that goes in."

Pulte was tapped by the president earlier this week in a surprising move that has been met with bipartisan resistance in the Senate, which confirms presidential nominations. The temporary appointment has now affected the renewal of a critical national security surveillance program on Capitol Hill, with Democrats key to the vote pointing out that they did not trust Pulte - whose office oversees 18 intelligence agencies - to help administer the surveillance program.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Pulte will stay in the position depending on how long it takes to get his successor confirmed. The president also said he was considering five people who were all very good, all people that you know very well, all people that do that kind of thing.

"They are very respected people," Trump said of his intelligence candidates, without naming them.

Under Pulte's predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, the DNI office had already taken steps to scale back its size. In August, the Trump administration said that the office's budget would be cut by more than $700 million per year, while slashing the size of its workforce.

At the time, Gabbard said the office had become bloated and inefficient while she announced the roughly 40 percent workforce reduction.

Gabbard resigned last month after revealing her husband's cancer diagnosis.

Kim reported from Washington.

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