In the 20th century, Americans learned how government abuse of secrets can threaten liberty. It happened during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, the McCarthy era and J. Edgar Hoover’s long reign at the F.B.I. After the Watergate scandal, however, Democrats and Republicans joined forces to put in place new rules and procedures to prevent federal officials from using sensitive information to harass political opponents. That system, while never perfect, largely succeeded in preventing the politicization of law enforcement and intelligence.
President Trump has dismantled these safeguards and made clear that he considers even the government’s most intrusive powers to be tools for his personal advantage. On Tuesday he took a new step down this road, choosing Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. Mr. Pulte, the head of a federal housing agency, is blatantly unqualified to oversee the nation’s spies. He has no known background in national security. Two senators with long backgrounds in intelligence — Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia — have said they do not even know if he has been authorized to handle classified information.
Mr. Pulte’s one evident qualification is his eagerness to advance the president’s political revenge campaign. In his current job, Mr. Pulte is supposed to help alleviate the nation’s housing shortage. Instead, he used his platform to attack the president’s enemies.
On social media, he has mimicked Mr. Trump’s childish style and repeated his false accusations. Mr. Pulte posted more than 100 times last summer about Jerome Powell, who was then the Federal Reserve chair. Mr. Pulte wrote that Mr. Powell “should RESIGN” and that he “doesn’t like our Great President.”
Even more seriously, he has leveled accusations of mortgage fraud against people Mr. Trump considers to be his political enemies. Mr. Pulte asked the Justice Department to investigate Attorney General Letitia James of New York, Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, and Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor whom Mr. Trump sought to fire. To aid the inquiries, Mr. Pulte abused his authority by obtaining documents from Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance giant that he helps supervise. He then presided over the firing of Fannie Mae officials who tried to investigate his conduct.
It is chilling to think about how he might use his power as the director of national intelligence, a job that will give him access to sensitive secrets about Americans and foreigners alike. His appointment is a threat to the effective functioning of the intelligence community, national security and the rule of law.
Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to oversee and coordinate the work of agencies that at times refused to work together, including the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. At its best, the office has broken down institutional barriers and given the president a disciplined and apolitical view of threats, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s ambitions regarding Taiwan. The office has helped prevent catastrophic terrorist attacks since 2001.
But the Trump administration has repurposed the job into a tool of partisanship. Mr. Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, was herself unqualified. She had a limited background in intelligence. She espoused conspiracy theories about the 2016 presidential election and other subjects. She made sympathetic comments about Mr. Putin.
Once in the job, Ms. Gabbard behaved inappropriately on several occasions. In January, she attended an F.B.I. raid in Atlanta in which government agents seized 2020 ballots to advance an investigation into bogus allegations of election fraud. A week later, her office said it had scrutinized voting machines used in Puerto Rico.
It is a sign of how much Mr. Trump has broken with post-Watergate norms that Ms. Gabbard almost seems qualified in comparison with Mr. Pulte. She, at least, served in the Army National Guard and in Congress. He is 38 years old and the grandson of the founder of a construction company. Much of his professional experience was at companies tied to his wealthy family. He worked his way into Mr. Trump’s orbit by posting friendly content online and befriending the president’s son Eric at the family’s Mar-a-Lago club. Along with his wife, Mr. Pulte contributed nearly $1 million to groups supporting Republican candidates in 2024 races.
The law that created the director of national intelligence stipulated that the officeholder should “have extensive national security expertise.” Mr. Pulte clearly fails that test. Mr. Trump has appointed him in an acting role, which means that the Senate does not need to confirm him. Unless the president formally nominates him, he can serve in the job for only 210 days.
That is 210 days too many, and Congress should act to force Mr. Pulte’s immediate removal. The past week has demonstrated that congressional Republicans do have leverage over the president. They forced him to back off his plan to create a $1.8 billion fund to reward his political allies, including many who have broken the law. Republicans did so by threatening not to pass legislation that Mr. Trump wants passed.
They can do the same with Mr. Pulte. The House and the Senate should refuse to pass bills funding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and reauthorizing parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until the White House removes him.
In Mr. Trump’s first term, principled appointees sometimes constrained him. In his second term, he has installed loyalists to expand his personal power. His efforts threaten American democracy, and the unqualified Mr. Pulte increases the threat.
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