President Donald Trump said Wednesday that acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte can declassify any records he wishes and could declassify virtually all materials, a sweeping authorization that has alarmed former intelligence officials who warn that careless disclosures could expose sensitive capabilities and bypass the usual interagency review processes.
Trump indicated that Mr. Pulte will serve only temporarily, for “a month or two months or something,” but has his approval to release classified material during that period.
While speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump remarked that “Bill is there just for a fairly short period of time, but while he’s there, I said you can declassify whatever you want.”
U.S. law generally requires a structured review process to assess national security risks before declassification. While Trump’s remarks give Mr. Pulte political backing to act aggressively, they do not specify how agencies whose intelligence is involved would be consulted beforehand.
A former official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “My guess is that the NSA and CIA are losing their minds at the idea of Pulte declassifying a lot of stuff.”
The official added, “If Pulte actually runs the traps and considers damage and balances, he won’t declassify much. If he doesn’t care about blowing up cyber exploits, putting foreign relationships at risk, or getting people killed, he could declassify a lot.”
A second former official noted that intelligence records are typically reviewed by the originating agency before release, especially when disclosure could reveal operational details, but such consultation might be skipped entirely under Mr. Pulte.
An Office of the Director of National Intelligence spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Trump has positioned Mr. Pulte at the center of a broader declassification initiative that started under former DNI Tulsi Gabbard. While in office, Ms. Gabbard released documents tied to Trump‑era claims of alleged weaponization within the intelligence community, including materials purportedly showing efforts to undermine Trump’s 2016 election and a conspiracy during his 2019 impeachment.
This declassification effort is part of a larger campaign to challenge an intelligence community that President Trump has long accused of acting against his interests. Since the 2016 Russia investigation, Trump and his supporters have contended that intelligence and law‑enforcement agencies have misused their authority to harm his administration.
A third former official warned that “Trump’s statement alone saying that Pulte has this authority is damaging to national security because any person thinking about volunteering or working with the United States might think twice now, and is more likely to go to the Brits or another service,” and added that any declassification of intelligence involving other agencies without proper coordination would constitute a legal violation.
The official added that the president “just signaled to any person providing intelligence to the United States that their intelligence can be released at Pulte’s whim, thus putting their entire security and safety in jeopardy.”
According to an NBC News report, the White House has convened a task force to gather thousands of pages of intelligence and law‑enforcement documents, primarily concerning the 2020 election, with plans to declassify select materials that could bolster Trump’s allegations of election irregularities and fraud.
Trump’s declassification push adds to existing concerns about his past handling of classified information. During his first term, officials reported that he shared highly classified intelligence from Israel with Russian officials in the Oval Office. In a separate case, Russian and U.S. news outlets later identified Oleg Smolenkov, a former Russian government official living near Washington, as a possible CIA source who vanished from Russia in 2017 after allegedly supplying information on President Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the Kremlin’s 2016 election‑interference efforts.
Trump faced a June 2023 indictment regarding classified records stored at Mar‑a‑Lago, with prosecutors alleging the documents involved highly sensitive national defense information. That case was ultimately dismissed and later dropped after his return to office. Similarly, former President Joe Biden was investigated for retaining classified materials, but a special counsel decided not to bring charges, citing insufficient evidence of willful retention.
During his brief tenure, Mr. Pulte has already instituted staffing changes at ODNI, removing roughly 50 career and political personnel. These dismissals follow a larger downsizing effort that began under Ms. Gabbard.
Notable personnel moves include the sidelining of Will Ruger, the deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration. Mr. Pulte also appointed Christina Norton, formerly his chief of staff at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Republican National Committee’s election integrity director, who helped oversee its 2024 poll‑watching operation, as his new chief of staff. Ms. Norton’s placement at ODNI has heightened concerns that the office may become more entangled in Trump’s efforts to revisit election‑related disputes.
Trump’s remarks follow his decision last month to delay the Senate’s fast‑track confirmation of Jay Clayton as the permanent director of national intelligence, keeping Mr. Pulte in the acting role. The president indicated on Wednesday that Mr. Clayton’s Senate hearing would be scheduled for two weeks later.
Mr. Clayton’s nomination has received a generally favorable reaction from members of Congress. However, Democrats have erupted in opposition to Mr. Pulte’s appointment, and several Republicans have voiced concern over placing an individual without prior intelligence experience in the acting DNI role. The dispute has already impacted the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a key surveillance authority that was expected to move forward in early June until Democrats withheld support in protest of Mr. Pulte’s leadership of ODNI.
