Bill Pulte won’t be running the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for a long time, but President Donald Trump will use the acting DNI’s tenure to all but eliminate a federal agency he’s long privately despised, according to Trumpworld insiders.Trump’s “entire political career” could be characterized as “taking on the deep state,” one former senior Trump White House aide told the Washington Examiner, “and with Pulte, you’re seeing the president take that matter into his own hands.”A veteran, out-of-government adviser to the president claimed Trump has long believed ODNI should not “exist” and that the CIA should oversee the U.S. intelligence community.
Two former Trump national security officials noted to the Washington Examiner that CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who served as acting DNI to conclude Trump’s first term, chose not to reclaim his old job in favor of leading the CIA, as Trump openly mulled ways to eliminate or sideline ODNI and the so-called deep state before reentering office last January.
“CIA is a way better job. DNI is like a fake, bulls*** agency. It was created post-9/11 because we were like, ‘Oh, there wasn’t intelligence sharing,’” said one former senior Trump White House official. “It’s just sort of like a bureaucratic warehouse. The CIA has its own, practically, paramilitary. The DNI does not have that. It’s a repository, essentially, and it doesn’t have any real power.”
