Roughly 50 career and political staffers have been removed from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since Friday, officials say — a downsizing that included placing Will Ruger, the deputy director for mission integration, on administrative leave.
Will Ruger placed on administrative leave
Will Ruger, described in reporting as the deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration, was placed on administrative leave as part of a broader personnel shakeup at ODNI, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. CBS News first reported details of Ruger’s dismissal, and the move was confirmed in subsequent reporting that estimated the total departures from ODNI at roughly 45 to 50 career officers plus an undetermined number of political staff.
Mission Integration: role and immediate effects
The mission integration directorate is one of ODNI’s principal units used “to link work across the intelligence landscape,” according to the reporting. The directorate is responsible for coordinating the 18 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community and for advising the director of national intelligence on how findings are collected, analyzed and used to inform policy and operational decisions. Around 15 to 20 mission integration personnel who had been detailed to ODNI from other U.S. intelligence units are believed to have been sent back to their home agencies, the anonymous person said — a movement that could have practical consequences for cross-agency coordination.
Bill Pulte’s broader personnel changes and context
The staffing changes have occurred since Bill Pulte became acting director of national intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard left the role. Pulte’s early moves followed an announced effort under Gabbard to reduce ODNI’s workforce by roughly 40 percent, a streamlining plan her office said would save more than $700 million annually. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Pulte told him roughly 45 to 50 career officers were being sent back to their home agencies, and that a smaller number of front-office personnel were leaving federal service altogether.
Pulte’s actions come while Jay Clayton, the president’s nominee for the Senate-confirmed intelligence chief post, awaits Senate consideration. The president ordered cancellation of Clayton’s confirmation hearing until the Senate could confirm a new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who would be Clayton’s replacement if confirmed, reporting says. ODNI did not return requests for comment about the downsizing plans.
Congressional warnings and surveillance authority fallout
Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees have warned Pulte against making major changes while serving in an acting capacity, arguing that large-scale personnel moves and other consequential decisions should be left to a Senate-confirmed director. Some Democrats further cautioned that Pulte’s reported role in the president’s mortgage fraud reviews last year could foreshadow an abuse of intelligence tools to target political opponents — a concern that reporters linked to the historic lapse, earlier this month, of a key surveillance authority.
Tom Cotton said Pulte broadly agrees with returning ODNI to its “original size, scope and mission,” including by spinning off some functional centers and returning detailed officers to their home agencies.
What this means for mission integration staff, intelligence agencies, and lawmakers
- Mission integration staff: Roughly 15 to 20 detailed personnel are believed to be returning to their home agencies, a shift that will immediately alter the directorate’s composition and its pool of liaison officers who perform cross-agency coordination.
- Other intelligence agencies: Agencies that had detailed officers to ODNI will receive those officers back, per the reporting, affecting joint-duty assignments that ODNI relies on to function as a unified enterprise.
- Lawmakers and confirmation process: The personnel moves have prompted warnings from committee Democrats and attracted comment from the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman; the outcome of Jay Clayton’s pending Senate consideration remains a concrete lever that could change ODNI leadership and personnel decisions once resolved.
ODNI’s mission integration directorate sits at the operational center of the intelligence community, and moving dozens of detailed officers back to their home agencies is a tangible, near-term change to how the directorate will be staffed and how it links the 18-member intelligence enterprise. The immediate questions left by the reporting are procedural and political: whether the acting director will sustain this posture, whether a Senate-confirmed director will reverse or endorse the moves, and how quickly returning detailed officers will be reintegrated into their originating agencies’ workstreams.
