Trump Names Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence, Replacing Tulsi Gabbard

Here's a name you probably haven't heard much: Bill Pulte. As of Tuesday, he's the guy overseeing every U.S. spy agency — the CIA, the NSA, all 18 of them. Yes, really.

President Trump announced on Truth Social that Pulte, who currently runs the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA — the government body that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), will serve as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI). He's replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who announced last month she was stepping down effective June 30 to care for her husband after he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

So why does this matter to you? The DNI is the highest-ranking intelligence official in the country. That person sets priorities for what America's spy agencies focus on, controls the flow of sensitive intelligence to the president, and coordinates national security decisions that affect everything from foreign threats to domestic security. It's one of the most consequential jobs in the government.

Here's the catch: Pulte has no background in intelligence. None. <br><br>Trump's justification, per his Truth Social post, was that Pulte has "deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America" — pointing to his oversight of over $10 trillion in assets at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But managing mortgage markets and running the nation's intelligence apparatus are... not the same thing.

So who is Pulte, exactly? He's a businessman who previously founded an investment firm and sat on the board of PulteGroup, the homebuilding company his grandfather founded. He and his wife reportedly donated around $1 million to Trump's political activities before joining the administration. At the FHFA, he became known less for housing policy and more for sending criminal referrals to the Justice Department alleging mortgage fraud against a list of Trump political opponents — including Sen. Adam Schiff, New York AG Letitia James, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and former Rep. Eric Swalwell. All have denied wrongdoing. The Government Accountability Office launched an investigation into whether Pulte misused his authority in making those referrals.

Now he'll have access to the crown jewels of U.S. intelligence — and he's keeping his FHFA job at the same time.

The reaction on Capitol Hill was swift and split along predictable lines — with one notable exception. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Pulte "a partisan thug with no experience in intelligence." But even Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, had a cool response, telling reporters: "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there."

There's also a legal wrinkle worth knowing. The law that created the DNI office says the position requires someone with "extensive national security experience and management expertise." It also says the principal deputy — a career CIA officer named Aaron Lukas — is supposed to step in during a vacancy. Trump had initially named Lukas as the acting DNI after Gabbard's resignation, then reversed course and picked Pulte instead. Legal experts say someone could challenge the appointment in court, but Pulte's 210-day acting window would likely run out before any case got anywhere.

Bottom line: this is a significant, eyebrow-raising move that puts a Trump loyalist with a track record of targeting the president's political enemies in charge of the entire U.S. intelligence community — right in the middle of an active conflict with Iran.