Before President Donald Trump named Bill Pulte as his choice to head the US intelligence community, Pulte reportedly did not hold a security clearance that would allow him to access highly classified information.
According to three sources familiar with the issue, this meant he lacked a qualification traditionally viewed as essential for someone taking on that role.
On Thursday, several days after Trump announced that Pulte would become the acting director of national intelligence (DNI), the office he is expected to oversee began the clearance process by requesting a background check, one source told CNN.
Pulte, a wealthy businessman who was confirmed last year as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was already seen as an unconventional selection for acting DNI because he has no clear background in national security.
A firm Trump supporter, he has also been involved in urging the Justice Department to pursue high-profile cases against some of the president’s personal opponents.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Trump indicated that Pulte would be responsible for reducing the size of the agency.
Trump said he had told Pulte that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was either unnecessary, too large, or both, and added that he had directed him to start dismissing staff.
Reports that Pulte lacked access to classified information before being named Trump’s top intelligence official highlight how unusual his background is compared with most previous directors of national intelligence.
Sen. Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN that the DNI has access to the country’s most sensitive intelligence. Warner said there was no indication that Pulte could be trusted to properly handle those classifications.
According to CNN’s sources, there is also no evidence that Pulte had previously held even the most basic level of security clearance before Trump selected him to serve as acting DNI.
Security clearances exist at several levels, from confidential to top secret. Some of the most sensitive information goes even further, falling into special compartmented programs that usually require both a clear need to know and extra screening.
According to two sources, Pulte had not previously undergone the kind of vetting used to identify possible security risks, which is normally required for higher-level clearances and is especially important for senior intelligence roles such as acting DNI.
One source said Pulte had gone through “none” of that clearance vetting before Trump announced his selection. The source added that the background investigation requested on Thursday marked the beginning of the process.
It is also not clear whether Pulte has agreed to take a polygraph exam. Several sources previously told CNN that a polygraph is a strict requirement for access to the intelligence community’s classified network, although it is not always required for senior presidential appointees chosen to lead intelligence agencies.
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