# Bill Pulte

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Bill Pulte," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bill-pulte/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The housing developer serving as acting Director of National Intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard's resignation. John Kiriakou, relaying the assessment of people who know him, calls him smart, personally decent and completely loyal to Trump — while saying he could not find the ODNI with a map and a GPS unit, and predicting his sole function will be to fire the president's enemies.*

- **Role:** Acting Director of National Intelligence
- **Background:** Home developer
- **Kiriakou's analogy:** "The Steve Witkoff of the intelligence community"
- **What his acquaintances say:** A good guy, very smart, completely loyal to [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)
- **Kiriakou's caveat:** "He could not find the office of the DNI if you gave him a map and a GPS unit"
- **Confirmation prospects:** Per Senate majority leader John Thune, unlikely to be nominated at all
- **Predicted function:** To fire Trump's enemies inside the intelligence community

**Bill Pulte** is the home developer named acting Director of National Intelligence following [Tulsi Gabbard](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tulsi-gabbard)'s resignation. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) describes him as *"the Steve Witkoff of the intelligence community"* — an outsider parachuted into a specialist post.[1]

His character assessment is secondhand and carefully separated from his competence assessment. Kiriakou, noting he has been in Washington for forty-four years, says he spent a weekend with people who know Pulte well: *"he's a a good guy. He's very smart. He is completely loyal to [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) and he could not find the office of the DNI if you gave him a map and a GPS unit."*[2]

On confirmation he defers to the Senate majority leader: if John Thune is right, *"Pulte is not going to be confirmed. His name likely will not even be put in nomination."* Kiriakou's expectation for the interim is functional rather than institutional — as acting DNI *"he can do one thing that has been that has long been important to Donald Trump, and that is to fire all your enemies,"* and he suspects that between then and January that is precisely what will happen, after which *"a serious person will be named as the DNI — or not. I mean, it could just remain vacant."*[2][3][4]

That last possibility is not a complaint in Kiriakou's mouth: he does not think the post should exist at all — see [Office of the Director of National Intelligence](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/office-of-the-director-of-national-intelligence).[4]

## See also

- [Office of the Director of National Intelligence](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/office-of-the-director-of-national-intelligence)
- [Tulsi Gabbard](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tulsi-gabbard)
- [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou: The CIA Whistleblower Who Went to Prison for Telling the Truth (2026-06-08), at 28:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr1NKUPsP-g&t=1714s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-08-ddgeopolitics-prison-for-truth/
2. John Kiriakou: The CIA Whistleblower Who Went to Prison for Telling the Truth (2026-06-08), at 29:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr1NKUPsP-g&t=1748s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-08-ddgeopolitics-prison-for-truth/
3. John Kiriakou: The CIA Whistleblower Who Went to Prison for Telling the Truth (2026-06-08), at 29:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr1NKUPsP-g&t=1778s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-08-ddgeopolitics-prison-for-truth/
4. John Kiriakou: The CIA Whistleblower Who Went to Prison for Telling the Truth (2026-06-08), at 30:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr1NKUPsP-g&t=1809s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-08-ddgeopolitics-prison-for-truth/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bill-pulte/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt