Trump Names Housing Regulator Bill Pulte Acting Intelligence Director, With No Intelligence Background

On June 2, 2026, President Trump named Bill Pulte — director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — acting Director of National Intelligence. Pulte's career has been in housing and philanthropy, with no professional background in intelligence. He replaces Tulsi Gabbard, who announced in May she would step down effective June 30, with Trump citing her husband's cancer treatment. As FHFA director, Pulte had publicly accused Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James of mortgage fraud; both denied it.

When Congress created the DNI post in 2004 it specified that appointees 'shall have extensive national security expertise.' Installing a housing regulator atop the intelligence community on an acting basis, without Senate confirmation, tests both that statutory expectation and the norm of independent intelligence assessment.

Sen. Mark Warner said Pulte 'will be willing to shape intelligence around the president's wishes, regardless of the cost to the American people.'