Pulte Strikes: The CIA in Trump’s Crosshairs

Washington is making enemies on all fronts and even alienating its own allies. Logically, the United States needs a strong intelligence apparatus right now. But Trump is taking the exact opposite approach. He has dispatched his loyal enforcer, Pulte, to execute a sweeping purge of the intelligence community.

The bloodletting is sending shockwaves through the ranks. It started at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Now it is spreading to the 18 agencies beneath it. The CIA has long harbored deep tensions with Trump and is unlikely to be spared.

Acting DNI Pulte is Trump's ruthless enforcer. Taking office this week, he instantly launched a sweeping intelligence purge to cut down the president's enemies.

Several members of Congress wrote to Pulte to demand an immediate halt. They warned this political purge will erode America's intelligence capabilities. But those warnings fall on deaf ears. Pulte answers to only one master, making a massacre all but certain.

Pulte is wasting no time sharpening his blade. CNN reports that he officially began work on Monday, a full day ahead of schedule. He immediately convened closed-door meetings with lawyers and aides. After securing a complete roster of ODNI employees, he started cutting. The first casualties were the politically appointed loyalists of former Director Gabbard. By Tuesday, multiple staffers were already leaving the office with boxes in their hands. More dismissals are sure to follow.

Gabbard was originally a "Barbie-type" senior official hand-picked by Trump himself. But she fell out of favor after clashing with her boss over the Iran strikes and internal restructuring. She resigned last month citing her husband's illness.

The reality is she was pushed out. Trump swiftly installed Pulte as the acting DNI for a 210-day term. Pulte previously served as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This diehard loyalist was brought in for nothing but one obvious reason: to serve as the president's personal enforcer and bring about a massive purge.
The ODNI plays a role of enormous consequence in Washington. The agency serves as the president's intelligence adviser and briefs him on the most sensitive classified information. It coordinates all 18 intelligence agencies under its umbrella and oversees a staggering budget of nearly $100 billion.

Yet, Trump has always harbored deep suspicions about this apparatus. Since taking office, he has suspected that holdovers from the previous administration remain embedded within various agencies. He views these officials as fundamentally disloyal. Rooting them out is Pulte's primary mandate.

True to form, Pulte began slashing before his seat was even warm. CNN indicates he will quickly pivot his attention to the National Counterterrorism Center and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. He ordered those bodies to submit personnel files on Monday. They are already compiling lists of employees earmarked for dismissal.
Trump sees these agencies as riddled with subversives. Recent events have only reinforced his suspicions. The United States launched military action against Iran in mid-March. Shortly after, National Counterterrorism Center Director Kent abruptly announced his resignation. He released an open letter stating he could not support the war against Iran in good conscience. He further alleged that Israel had pressured the president into the conflict.

Such remarks sent Trump into a furious rage. He is now more driven than ever: thorough cleansing of the intelligence community is clearly long overdue.

Trump's distrust of the CIA runs just as deep and stems from long-standing grievances. A group of CIA officers participated in intelligence assessments related to the "Russia collusion" investigation back in 2016. The president brands these individuals as "deep state" operatives actively working against him.

Some of those officials remain at the agency to this day. They are prime targets in this new purge. It is only a matter of time before Pulte sets his sights on Langley.

Trump and the CIA share a bitter history. The agency is now firmly in Pulte's crosshairs.

Make no mistake: Trump is openly embracing accusations of a political purge. He spoke to the Wall Street Journal just two days ago and described the ODNI as bloated and unnecessary. He boldly declared he wants to see the agency get smaller, adding that many people there simply do not belong.

The president expects Pulte to execute this process immediately. He insists that whoever is eventually nominated to the permanent post must carry on the ruthless work. He views a massive "housecleaning" before a new director arrives as a profoundly good thing. Trump argues there are simply too many intelligence personnel, and he openly welcomes deep personnel cuts.
America's military vulnerabilities were already laid bare by its recent campaign against Iran. Now Trump is gutting the very intelligence services the nation depends on to survive. He is effectively severing his own limbs in a desperate drive to excise the "deep state."

At this destructive rate, the United States will inevitably be exposed as nothing more than a paper tiger.

Lai Ting-yiu

What Say You?

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

If attacking Iran were a business, the US just took a total bath. Military spending in the hundreds of billions. Piles of expensive missiles written off. Bases and equipment damaged.

And what did America get? Nothing. It's actually worse off than before the war. Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump, the businessman, is of course furious. And like any cornered CEO, he's looking for someone to blame. With midterm elections looming, he needs to distance himself from this debacle. Pinning the failure on his subordinates is pure self-preservation.

The Washington Post dropped a bombshell yesterday. At an internal meeting last week, Trump lit into Defense Secretary Hegseth, saying that he thought the ammunition shortage "had been fixed". Now he wanted answers. Why, as defense secretary, had Hegseth let him be misled?

Hegseth, feeling the heat, didn't hesitate. He pointed the finger straight at Deputy Defense Secretary Feinberg. Feinberg, he said, had failed to keep the president fully in the loop. This isn't the first time Trump has used Hegseth as

Trump threw a tantrum at an internal meeting, ripping into Defense Secretary Hegseth. His demand: explain why he was misled on the weapons shortage.

So what set Trump off? Just days earlier, he was beating the war drum, vowing even bigger airstrikes on Iran.

Then came the war council meeting. That's when the bombshell dropped. Patriot missile stockpiles? Nearly gone. Other air defense systems? Critically low. The situation was dire.

Had Iran hit back hard, US forces in the region would be sitting ducks. Trump, faced with that reality, called off the attack at the last second.

Think about that. He was making life-or-death military decisions, and he still believed the US had plenty of ammo. Unbelievable. But here's the rule in Trump's world: the boss is never wrong. He never admits a mistake.

The Washington Post describes the scene at Camp David. Trump threw a fit. He demanded Hegseth explain why he'd been kept in the dark. Why did he think the problem was solved? In Trump's mind, the fault was entirely on the other side.

Patriot missile stockpiles are nearly depleted after the Iran strikes. The situation is dire. Trump made military decisions blind to the facts, then blamed Hegseth.

Hegseth, fresh off a brutal dressing-down, went straight into survival mode. He deflected. Deputy Defense Secretary Feinberg, he argued, was the one responsible for the weapons shortage. Feinberg had failed to make sure the president knew the real state of the ammunition stockpiles. Classic Pentagon passing-the-buck.

A History of Scapegoating and Pentagon Chaos

The two clashed at the meeting, reports say. It exposed Trump's simmering frustration with Hegseth.

Inside Trump's team, Hegseth was the top war hawk. He pushed relentlessly for war with Iran. That faction dominated the early stages of the attack. The dovish Vice President Vance only gained influence later. So Hegseth owns a bigger share of the blame for the decision to go to war.

The truth is, this wasn't new. Months earlier, in late March, with the Iran war bogged down, Trump publicly dumped the blame for starting the war right on Hegseth.

At a press conference, Trump looked directly at Hegseth, sitting beside him, and spelled it out. "Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said let’s do it because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon," Hegseth looked embarrassed, unsure how to react.

Analysts saw it coming. Trump, watching the war turn ugly, was already lining up a fall guy. Hegseth was the prime candidate.

The Pentagon was a mess under Hegseth. Political chatter had it that Army Secretary Driscoll could take his job.

But where there's smoke, there's fire. Hegseth couldn't figure out what Trump really thought. He saw Driscoll as a threat. So he moved first. He axed Driscoll's right-hand man and pushed his ally, Army Chief of Staff George, into early retirement. A loyalist of his took the spot. The Pentagon has been a snake pit of infighting ever since.

The Washington Post story dropped. White House and Pentagon spokespeople immediately denied it. Nothing like that ever happened, they said.

But let's be real: anonymous insiders who leak to the media often paint a truer picture than the official line.

The Iran attack is sputtering. And the calls for accountability will only get louder. With his absolute refusal to look weak, Trump will pass the buck however he can. Hegseth won't be the only one thrown under the bus.

Lai Ting-yiu