Rep. Jim Himes Criticizes Appointment of Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence
Lawmakers say the appointment could politicize intelligence and leave Section 702 renewal short of votes as the surveillance authority nears expiration.
- On Sunday, Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, criticized President Donald Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, calling it "the worst and most dangerous."
- This appointment complicates the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires Friday; the Senate blocked an extension last week amid concerns regarding warrantless surveillance.
- Republican senators including Sen. James Lankford and Senate Majority Leader John Thune joined Democrats questioning whether Pulte possesses the national security experience to oversee the nation's 18-agency intelligence apparatus.
- On Saturday, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to "plan for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection" if Section 702 lapses after Friday.
- President Trump defended the appointment as temporary, describing Pulte as "very smart," while critics highlighted Pulte's past use of the Justice Department to target political opponents at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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The World Knows Trump's Team is Not Qualified to Use FISA, Too
I want to build on Marcy’s earlier post, to add another level of concern to everything she raised. Specifically, this: every single major ally with whom we have intelligence sharing agreements and every significant enemy who wants to thwart our intelligence efforts is paying attention, too. The latter group is licking their chops, and the former group is getting nervous. Actually, those allies are getting *more* nervous. When Trump took office i…
FISA Negotiations Confirm Madison’s Fears
Democrats and stray Republicans are leveraging the impending expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to strongarm Donald Trump into reversing Bill Pulte’s appointment to his post as acting Director for National Intelligence.
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