Mass firings underway in US national intelligence director office, CNN reports

The large-scale cuts that US President Donald Trump’s acting director of national intelligence had been considering imposing at his own office started on Monday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Sources had previously told CNN that Bill Pulte, Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence in an acting capacity, was looking at cutting hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Last week, Pulte showed up to his new job a day early after asking for a list of every employee in the office, sources told CNN, catching even outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard off-guard.

The firings came as top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees sent a letter on Monday to Pulte warning him of the risks of making large cuts to the workforce.