{"id":14073,"date":"2026-06-11T12:31:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14073"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:31:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:31:41","slug":"spy-program-at-risk-over-trumps-pick-of-pulte-for-director-of-national-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14073","title":{"rendered":"Spy program at risk over Trump\u2019s pick of Pulte for director of national intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and SEUNG MIN KIM<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A rare lapse in a law that allows the U.S. to gather intelligence abroad is growing more likely after President Donald Trump resisted calls from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to immediately name a permanent head of the nation\u2019s intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

Read more Storms knock out power in the Midwest and disrupt Chicago flights<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump has doubled down on his temporary pick for director of national intelligence, federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, even though he has little experience for the job. Democrats say they won\u2019t support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless the president withdraws Pulte\u2019s appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.<\/p>\n

The House will try early Thursday to approve a short-term FISA extension, but passage is unlikely. The Senate may follow suit, hoping to prevent what could be an unprecedented lapse in the surveillance tool.<\/p>\n

The impasse could soon result in limitations on what intelligence the U.S. government can collect abroad just as World Cup games begin in cities around the country and ahead of celebrations for the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary. The law expires on Friday at midnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t let them extort us,\u201d Trump said of Democrats.<\/p>\n

Trump has stuck with Pulte as the acting head, rebuffing demands from lawmakers for a more qualified nominee. He asked Congress for a short-term extension of the law to \u201cprovide time for the selection and confirmation\u201d of a permanent director. He said he wants Pulte to begin downsizing intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

The parties leveled blame for the potential interruption in what has been seen as an essential, if long-debated, surveillance program for keeping the country safe.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to ask every member here to do the right thing,\u201d said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. \u201cWe cannot allow that to go dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said if Trump wants a shot at a short-term extension, he needs to pull the Pulte appointment. Pulte is a \u201cdisgraceful individual\u201d and a \u201cpartisan political hack\u201d who is deeply unqualified for the job, Jeffries said.<\/p>\n

GOP leaders lobby the White House, to no avail<\/h4>\n

Congressional Republicans have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a permanent replacement. But he said he needs more time to do so.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republican leaders have \u201cmade our views known\u201d to the White House.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Trump has said that he is interviewing five candidates for his pick to lead the agency permanently, after the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard.<\/p>\n

And Johnson said the president has made it very clear that Pulte will serve a \u201cvery short term \u2014 a sort of renovation role\u201d to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be \u201crenovated and downsized.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee led by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut said in a letter to the president that Pulte is a \u201cuniquely poor choice\u201d to serve even in the acting capacity.<\/p>\n

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Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers skeptical of Pulte have pointed to his lack of intelligence experience and also his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the position, he has been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has distinguished himself only as someone who will do or say anything to stay in your good graces,\u201d Himes and the other lawmakers wrote, \u201cqualities that are precisely the opposite of what our nation needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

FISA will lapse at midnight Friday<\/h4>\n

Section 702 of FISA allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.<\/p>\n

While members of both parties who cite privacy issues have long wanted to limit the authority, there was broad bipartisan support to renew it, especially after Republicans and Democrats recently worked out a compromise bill.<\/p>\n

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has worked with Republicans on the compromise legislation to renew the authority. But he called Pulte\u2019s appointment to replace Gabbard \u201ca live hand grenade\u201d disrupting the process.<\/p>\n

Warner said the only way he\u2019ll support a short-term extension of the surveillance law is if the principal deputy director of national intelligence, Aaron Lukas, is the acting leader during the duration of that extension.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have warned the administration that the spy tool is likely to lapse.<\/p>\n

The administration should prepare \u201cfor a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection,\u201d they wrote in a letter.<\/p>\n

Trump doesn\u2019t back down on Pulte<\/h4>\n

After bipartisan pushback to Pulte\u2019s temporary appointment, Trump said last week that he would not permanently nominate him to the position. But Democrats, and some Republicans, want his appointment pulled immediately and for Trump to nominate a replacement that can be confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, though, Trump announced that Pulte would not only take over as acting director \u2014 he\u2019d also start earlier than expected, on June 19.<\/p>\n

One of several possible replacements could be Pete Hoekstra, Trump\u2019s ambassador to Canada and a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has reached out to Hoekstra about the job and conversations are ongoing, according to a person familiar with the outreach who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations.<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Iran responds to a second day of US strikes by firing at Gulf states and Jordan<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump has doubled down on Bill Pulte for director of national intelligence, putting a short-term extension of the FISA spy program at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSpy program at risk over Trump\u2019s pick of Pulte for director of national intelligence - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14073\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spy program at risk over Trump\u2019s pick of Pulte for director of national intelligence - 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