Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/Mark Schiefelbein/AP/dpa
Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/Mark Schiefelbein/AP/dpa

Ideas

Trump’s Strange Choice for Director of National Intelligence

The president’s selection of Bill Pulte is both baffling and predictable.

First published in The Atlantic on June 2, 2026.

by David Frum, The Atlantic
June 3, 2026 | reading time: 3 Min.

Bill Pulte does not have a habit of publicly saying admiring things about Vladimir Putin or Bashar al-Assad, so in that one respect his appointment as acting director of national intelligence represents an improvement over Tulsi Gabbard.

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