A Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on June 2, 2026, went sideways almost before it began. The session had been scheduled to consider two routine intelligence nominations, but an announcement from the White House that morning changed everything: President Donald Trump had tapped Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to simultaneously run the country’s intelligence apparatus as acting director of national intelligence.
For the committee’s vice chairman, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), it was the kind of development that left him struggling for words — and then finding plenty of them.
“I thought I’d seen it all. I thought I couldn’t be shocked anymore,” Warner told colleagues assembled for the session. “The fact that President Trump announced today that Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will also serve as Director of National Intelligence frankly stuns me.”
A Role Built Around National Security Credentials
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence wasn’t created by accident. Congress stood it up in direct response to the intelligence failures exposed by the September 11, 2001, attacks, with the explicit goal of centralizing coordination across 18 separate agencies. The statute governing the role mandates that whoever leads the office bring extensive national security experience to the job.
By Warner’s accounting, Pulte brings none of it. The senator walked methodically through what he described as a complete absence of relevant credentials: no military service, no experience working in or overseeing congressional intelligence matters, no diplomatic career, no law enforcement background.
“Mr. Pulte has none of that. Zero,” Warner said.
The hearing had originally been scheduled to consider the nominations of Dr. L. Roger Mason to lead the National Reconnaissance Office and Michael J. Vance to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. Both nominations were quickly overshadowed by what Trump had announced that morning.
Pulte’s FHFA Record Under Scrutiny
Warner’s critique extended well beyond qualifications. The senator trained his sharpest criticism on Pulte’s conduct at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where Warner alleged he had used private financial data as a political weapon — targeting Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) among others. Handing that kind of official unfettered access to classified intelligence, Warner argued, represented a qualitatively different and far more dangerous risk.
“It is an insult to the thousands of people in the Intelligence Community who serve to keep our nation safe and have the ultimate responsibility to be willing to speak truth to power,” Warner said.
The vice chairman also flagged the implications for congressional oversight of sensitive surveillance authorities, particularly Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires periodic reauthorization and has long been a flash point between lawmakers and intelligence agencies. His concern proved well-founded: on June 12, 2026, Section 702 expired after the House rejected a short-term extension 198–218, with nearly all House Democrats refusing to vote for renewal unless Trump removed Pulte from the acting DNI post. Nineteen House Republicans also voted no, citing constitutional concerns. Three separate Senate attempts to pass short-term extensions failed the same day.
Acting Authority, Absent Confirmation
Trump confirmed on June 10 that Pulte would assume the acting DNI role on June 19, succeeding Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation on May 22. Gabbard cited the need to support her husband, Abraham Williams, through a bone cancer diagnosis. Trump had initially designated Aaron Lukas, the Senate-confirmed principal deputy director of national intelligence, as acting DNI upon Gabbard’s departure, before pivoting to Pulte.
Because the appointment carries the “acting” designation, it bypasses Senate confirmation entirely — even though an acting official holds the same authorities as a Senate-confirmed director, including access to the most highly compartmented information in the U.S. government.
Not every Republican on the committee shared Warner’s alarm. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) endorsed the broader ODNI downsizing that Pulte has been tasked with implementing, arguing that the office had ballooned well beyond what Congress originally envisioned when it created the position. Trump has directed Pulte to begin immediately reassigning ODNI staff back to their home agencies.
Clayton Nomination Adds a New Layer
The controversy over Pulte was followed nine days later by a nomination aimed at calming it. On June 11, Trump announced he intended to nominate Jay Clayton — currently serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission — as the permanent director of national intelligence. The Senate Intelligence Committee moved quickly, scheduling a confirmation hearing for June 17.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters the chamber would “move quickly” once the White House delivered the nomination paperwork. Warner offered a notably more measured response than he had given to the Pulte announcement, saying he had “great respect for Jay Clayton” — while pointedly questioning why the nomination had taken so long.
“Why he waited until after the House broke, I have no idea,” Warner said.
Pulte, meanwhile, remains on track to take over at ODNI on June 19, running both the nation’s housing finance regulator and its intelligence coordination structure — an arrangement, Warner made plain, he views as one of the more reckless decisions of an administration he has rarely been reluctant to criticize.
