The Pulte problem

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 11th of June. So glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It!

Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Up first, spy powers up for debate.

The Senate faces down a deadline of midnight tomorrow to reauthorize FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and section 702. That post-9/11 tool allows the FBI and other agencies to screen messages sent to and by foreign actors without a warrant.

REICHARD: Conversations about renewing the law often include debates over adding more protections for American citizens whose messages get caught up in warrantless searches.

But this week, the debate has still another dimension: the future of America’s director of national intelligence.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters reports from Washington.

HARRISON WATTERS: Four months ago, Bill Pulte’s main objective was increasing the value of mortgage securities companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

PULTE: Under President Trump, we are running Fannie and Freddie like businesses, and that's why we have the flexibility to do this and feel very confident...

Now, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director is poised to temporarily add another hat as Acting Director of National Intelligence. That’s after Tulsi Gabbard resigned to care for her husband, who has cancer. Pulte will oversee 18 agencies, including the CIA and NSA, starting June 19th. 

Pulte has no known background in the intelligence community, but President Trump expressed confidence in Pulte as acting director. He told reporters aboard Air Force One that Pulte might clean house and trim the number of staff in the Office of Director of National Intelligence.

TRUMP: If he cut, I wouldn't mind that...

But Democrats condemned the move, citing Pulte’s lack of experience and actions he’s taken to seemingly go after the President’s enemies. Last year, Pulte made several criminal referrals to the Department of Justice against officials including California Senator Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.

Here’s legal expert John Malcolm with the think tank Advancing American Freedom.

MALCOLM: He's also the person that has been largely behind investigations into potential mortgage fraud by Letitia James, the Attorney General in New York City…

The Republican response to the appointment has been muted. Here’s Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton last Tuesday, after Trump’s announcement:

COTTON: I have no observations on the matter.

Malcolm says the president’s choice complicates things for Republicans, who need Democrat support to hit the Senate’s 60-vote threshold required to renew FISA’s Section 702.

MALCOLM: Some Republicans are essentially saying, you know, while Pulte is there in that position, they are not prepared to provide these tools to the intelligence community because they don't trust how he will use them.

Days after the announcement, the Senate voted to bring the FISA bill to the floor, and seven Republicans voted with most Democrats to block it. Some were concerned about Pulte’s appointment. Others were holding out for an amendment requiring a warrant to access any electronic communication by Americans. 

But Malcolm says changes in the last few years have already raised standards and reduced the number of known queries of Americans.

MALCOLM: At one point back in the early 2022, 2023, there was something like 120,000 queries. In the last year, it was under 7500 queries.

Malcolm says failing to reauthorize Section 702 would be a technological setback for American intelligence.

MALCOLM: Well, they're going to have to rely a lot more on human intelligence, both in this country and overseas, and hope that our covert spies and undercover agents have done an effective job of infiltrating these groups and can stop an attack before it happens.

While the deadline to reauthorize FISA is Friday at midnight, FISA investigations will continue through March 2027 under authority from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. 

Even so, Malcolm says members of Congress will use the deadline to exert as much leverage as possible.

MALCOLM: There's a big game of chicken going on on Capitol Hill, and we'll, you know, see how it plays out.

Meanwhile, President Trump has asked for a second short-term extension to give him time to choose a full-time intelligence director. He’s said he’s considering five candidates, but has yet to name them. 

Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday the sooner the President picks a new spy chief, the better.

THUNE: Getting some certainty and closure on that issue about who that might be will certainly play an important role in unlocking the support that we need to get FISA done.

If Republican leaders cannot get Democrats on board to extend the deadline, Congress will likely run out the clock on Friday.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters, in Washington.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.