{"id":2612796,"date":"2026-06-10T07:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T11:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inside-trumps-plan-to-tear-down-odni\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T07:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T11:36:16","slug":"inside-trumps-plan-to-tear-down-odni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inside-trumps-plan-to-tear-down-odni\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Trump&#8217;s plan to tear down ODNI"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finside-trumps-plan-to-tear-down-odni%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2612796&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article says President Trump is highly likely to use acting DNI Bill Pulte\u2019s tenure to greatly shrink-or effectively dismantle-the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), an agency Trumpworld insiders claim he has long disliked. Several former Trump officials argue Trump believes ODNI shouldn\u2019t exist in its current form and that CIA should oversee the intelligence community instead.<\/p>\n<p>It also recounts that ODNI was created after 9\/11 to centralize intelligence oversight, with rules preventing the CIA director from simultaneously serving as DNI. During Trump\u2019s first term, DNI was elevated to a Cabinet-level position, which some critics say Trump later came to regret.<\/p>\n<p>The piece notes that ODNI\u2019s staffing has already fluctuated downward during Trump\u2019s time in office,including a major reduction under outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Former CIA Director John Brennan is cited as saying ODNI could be streamlined,but warning against \u201cDOGE\u201d-style disruption without expertise that could harm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/we-got-it-newsmax-reporter-emerald-robinson-national-security-source-confirms-a-piece-of-hardware-has-been-secured-in-germany\/\" title=\"We Got It! - Newsmax Reporter Emerald Robinson: National Security Source Confirms &quot;A Piece of Hardware Has Been Secured&quot; in Germany\">national security<\/a>-particularly if someone without <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >deep intelligence-community experience takes control<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>the article explains that fully eliminating ODNI would require new legislation, and although a bill to reduce ODNI has been introduced by Sen. tom Cotton, politics-especially an election year-could make progress difficult. Still, a former senior White House aide suggests trump may pursue his plan regardless of the political cost.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill Pulte won\u2019t be running the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/odni\" type=\"link\" id=\"washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/odni\">Office of the Director of National Intelligence<\/a> for a long time, but President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4600790\/trump-vows-us-response-iran-shot-down-apache-helicopter\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> will use the acting DNI\u2019s tenure to all but eliminate a federal agency he\u2019s long privately despised, according to Trumpworld insiders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s \u201centire political career\u201d could be characterized as \u201ctaking on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-ag-barr-create-durham-special-counsel-to-prevent-president-trump-from-releasing-information-related-to-crossfire-hurricane\/\" title=\"Did AG Barr Create Durham Spe...l Counsel to Prevent ... from Releasing Information Related to Crossfire Hurricane?\">deep state<\/a>,\u201d one former senior Trump White House aide told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, \u201cand with Pulte, you\u2019re seeing the president take that matter into his own hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4601633\/melania-trump-own-path-second-term\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Melania Trump forges her own path in Trump\u2019s second term<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4600810\/melania-trump-celebrates-ai-challenge-finalists\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>First lady celebrates AI challenge finalists: \u2018We are just at the beginning\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4600790\/trump-vows-us-response-iran-shot-down-apache-helicopter\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump vows US response after confirming Iran shot down Apache helicopter<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A veteran, out-of-government adviser to the president claimed Trump has long believed ODNI should not \u201cexist\u201d and that the CIA should oversee the U.S. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/intelligence-community\" type=\"link\" id=\"washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/intelligence-community\">intelligence community<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two former Trump <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4598679\/trump-israel-iran-discussing-immediate-ceasefire-renewed-fighting\/\">national security<\/a> officials noted to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who served as acting DNI to conclude Trump\u2019s 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<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-presumed-fbi-candidate-rogers-not-in-the-running-trump-adviser-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Top presumed FBI candidate Rogers not in the running: Trump adviser - Washington Examiner\">-called deep state<\/a> before reentering office last January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCIA is a way better job. DNI is like a fake, bulls*** agency. It was created post-9\/11 because we were like, \u2018Oh, there wasn\u2019t intelligence sharing,\u2019\u201d said one former senior Trump White House official. \u201cIt\u2019s just sort of like a bureaucratic warehouse. The CIA has its own, practically, paramilitary. The DNI does not have that. It\u2019s a repository, essentially, and it doesn\u2019t have any real power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump himself hasn\u2019t exactly made his plans for the agency a secret, either. On Friday, he told the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> in an interview that he directed Pulte to \u201cstart the process\u201d of firing certain agency staffers, suggesting \u201cit might be good for him to shake it up\u201d before Trump\u2019s full-time DNI nominee makes it to the confirmation process.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the nearly 60 years following World War II, the U.S. intelligence apparatus was overseen by the CIA director in a concurrent posting as the director of central intelligence. However, a bill approved by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks created the DNI to oversee all of intelligence. Furthermore, the law actively prohibited the director of the CIA or any of the other 17 intelligence agencies from concurrently serving as DNI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4592163\/bill-pulte-attack-dog-charm-offensive-trump\/\"><strong>HOW BILL PULTE TURNED BEING AN ATTACK DOG INTO A CHARM OFFENSIVE WITH TRUMP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn\u2019t until Trump\u2019s first term that DNI was raised to a Cabinet-level position, a decision that a second former Trump White House staffer says the president is living to regret. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the idea of elevating DNI was to have more direct oversight over the deep state. I do think that\u2019s true,\u201d that person told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, even while adding that Trump\u2019s supposed purge of the agency saddles Republicans with \u201cjust another few weeks of us talking about some of the positive stuff he\u2019s done,\u201d to address the affordability issue and other midterm concerns of voters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ODNI had steadily grown in size since its creation and the start of Trump\u2019s first term in 2017. At the time, ODNI boasted roughly 2,000 staffers, but that number already began to creep down to 1,700 by the time the president started his second term. Outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard further trimmed the office\u2019s staff by roughly 50% during her time serving in the Trump administration. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even former CIA Director John Brennan, often described by Trump as one of the worst deep state offenders, said on MS NOW over the weekend that, despite his view that ODNI is a critical agency, the office could be streamlined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDoes the legislation need to be tweaked a bit? I would argue yes. Can there be some changes inside of the office? Are there some redundancies there? I think any organization can go through some of those reforms,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cBut having a Bill Pulte come in without any experience or understanding of the intelligence community, to come in and, as you say, \u2018DOGE it\u2019 \u2014 I don\u2019t see that he\u2019s going to have the capability and the insight and the experience to be able to do this effectively and not hurt our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, eliminating the office entirely, similar to Trump\u2019s push to end the Department of Education, would require new legislation. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced a bill to reduce the ODNI footprint last summer, and he reaffirmed his support for Trump\u2019s plans late last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPresident Trump is right: the ODNI has grown far beyond its original mandate. I\u2019ve long advocated for downsizing, if not outright eliminating, this bureaucracy,\u201d Cotton <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenTomCotton\/status\/2062952116868481376\">posted<\/a> on X. \u201cTime to return these officers back to their home agencies to focus on actual intelligence work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4600790\/trump-vows-us-response-iran-shot-down-apache-helicopter\/\"><strong>TRUMP VOWS US RESPONSE AFTER CONFIRMING IRAN SHOT DOWN APACHE HELICOPTER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Passing such a bill is virtually impossible in an election year, but a former senior White House aide told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that Trump\u2019s plans won\u2019t be deterred, even if it costs him political capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTrump is doing whatever the hell he wants to do, on every front, right? Why does he do anything? Because it\u2019s what he wants to do,\u201d that person said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s kind of an insane pitch, but he pardoned the J6ers the first day in office. Why is anyone surprised he\u2019s trying to do this now?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Pulte won\u2019t lead ODNI long; Trump may use acting time to nearly eliminate the agency, insiders say-part of his lifelong fight against the \u201cdeep state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2645,"featured_media":2612797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26156702671351.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[37840,41281,50611,42563,3634],"class_list":["post-2612796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-government-oversight","tag-intelligence-community","tag-national-security-2","tag-odni","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26156702671351.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2612796"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2612800,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612796\/revisions\/2612800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2612797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2612796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2612796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2612796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}