US intelligence community faces sweeping staff cuts as acting spy chief slashes 30% of ODNI workforce

Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte announced on July 28 that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will cut 30% of its remaining staff, the fifth and reportedly near-final round of terminations since he took the helm. The ODNI has now eliminated roughly 200 positions since June 1, effectively halving the agency’s workforce compared to its size before Trump’s second term.

Pulte, who stepped into the acting DNI role on June 19, has been moving fast. Five rounds of terminations in roughly two months is an unusually aggressive pace, even by this administration’s standards.

The cuts are framed as an effort to address what the administration calls a “bloated and corrupt elite class” within the intelligence apparatus.

The timing of the announcement was not accidental. It landed on the same day the Senate was moving forward with confirmation proceedings for Jay Clayton, who is expected to take over as the permanent Director of National Intelligence. Clayton previously served as chairman of the SEC from 2017 to 2020.

The broader initiative fits into the administration’s goal of minimizing non-defense discretionary spending. Alongside the personnel reductions, the government has been pushing to declassify various intelligence materials, a move that has drawn both praise from transparency advocates and sharp criticism from national security hawks.

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