Pulte Sends Termination Notices to Dozens of Intelligence Officials on July Fourth

The new acting director of national intelligence moved against career intelligence staff on Thursday, with at least one official describing the situation anonymously over fears of professional reprisal.

Bill Pulte, installed as acting director of national intelligence, began issuing termination notices to dozens of career intelligence officials on July 3, 2026.
At least one official confirmed the firings anonymously, citing fears of retaliation.
The scope of the terminations had not been officially confirmed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as of the reporting date.
Pulte took the acting DNI role following a series of administration reshuffles at the top of the U.S. intelligence community.
No formal public statement from Pulte or the ODNI had been released explaining the basis for the terminations.

Bill Pulte, the new acting director of national intelligence, began issuing termination notices to dozens of career intelligence officials on Thursday, according to reporting from Political Wire, which cited an anonymous official who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal.

The firings landed on July 4th — a federal holiday — with recipients described only in aggregate. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence had not issued a public statement confirming the scope of the action as of the time of reporting.

Pulte, whose background is in real estate and philanthropy rather than intelligence, was elevated to the acting directorship following a sequence of departures and reassignments at the top of the U.S. intelligence apparatus that accelerated through the first half of 2026.

The anonymous official described the notices as arriving without detailed explanation. A second source had not been confirmed in the original reporting.

The ODNI did not respond to a request for comment cited in the source report. What the termination notices did not include, according to the official who described them: any stated statutory authority for the action.