Bill Pulte’s Temporary Appointment as Acting DNI Raises Fresh Questions about the Dangers of Section 702 Database on Americans

President Trump’s selection of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence has already stymied the hard push by Senate leadership to force through the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Most on the Hill have so far focused on the oddity of the appointment of a housing official with no military or intelligence experience to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“By any objective assessment – in terms of experience, expertise, background – this appointment makes no sense,” said Sen. Angus King (D-ME). Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) chimed in: “I see no evidence of any qualifications for the job.”

Since this is an acting appointment, however, Pulte’s post will not require Senate confirmation. He can serve as acting Director of National Intelligence until Jan. 26, 2027 – although President Trump now says that this is only a “temporary” appointment. Pulte will, at least for now, also continue to serve as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as well as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But Pulte’s appointment is sure to focus Congress on the possible uses and abuses of the vast amount of warrantlessly collected data authorized by Section 702. The FBI has abused Section 702 millions of times in the last five years, warrantlessly accessing the communications of Americans through backdoor searches.

To complicate matters, as Pulte moves into his new office, he will still face an inquiry by the Government Accountability Office into whether he misused federal authority and resources to publicly accuse prominent Democrats of mortgage fraud.

Whatever you make of all this, it is not helping the cause of surveillance hawks in the House and Senate who are still trying to ram through the reauthorization of Section 702 without allowing any debate on significant amendments.

The ultimate head-scratcher here is why President Trump would allow his allies to push for a reauthorization of a long-abused surveillance authority when he himself was targeted by the misuse of a related FISA authority in 2016 and 2017.
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PPSA continues to urge President Trump to focus on building a legacy that would reform the surveillance state while bolstering the powers needed to keep America safe. A good place to start would be for House and Senate leaders to allow a debate and votes on amendments that would place guardrails on Section 702.

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