Trump appoints ally Bill Pulte as acting US intelligence director

President Donald Trump appointed federal housing regulator Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence on Tuesday, elevating a political loyalist with ​no national security experience to lead the sprawling US intelligence community at a time of war and global tensions, Report informs via Reuters.

In a social media post, Trump said Pulte, 38, will ‌temporarily replace the departing Tulsi Gabbard in the intelligence post but will also continue serving as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chair of federally supported mortgage-backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Gabbard, a ​Trump appointee who has served as director of national intelligence since February 2025, last month announced plans to leave the post effective on June 30. Reuters reported she was forced from ​the role over frictions with the White House. Gabbard said she resigned due to her husband's recent cancer diagnosis.

Pulte, who has no ⁠experience in intelligence, temporarily will oversee the 18 agencies that comprise the US intelligence community, with a combined budget of more than $115 billion for fiscal year 2026.

They include the premier foreign spy service, the ​Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, the massive agency that eavesdrops on foreign communications and helps defend the US against cyberattacks.

Trump announced Pulte's appointment as the top American spy as the United ​States is embroiled in the Iran war and a raft of other foreign policy crises for which intelligence is crucial, from Russia's war on Ukraine to China's challenge to US military and economic dominance.

Congressional Democrats denounced Pulte's appointment.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer called Pulte a "partisan thug."