Pulte as DNI would give Trump attack dog access to the ‘crown jewels’

President Donald Trump‘s appointment of Bill Pulte to be the acting director of national intelligence will place the president’s housing agency attack dog in possession of the country’s most prized secrets, a move that analysts fear could further politicize the office and erode U.S. intelligence gathering.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was tapped by Trump on Tuesday morning to replace the outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

Pulte is not experienced in national intelligence and was an investor and executive of the home building firm PulteGroup before serving in government. As DNI, Pulte will be placed at the top of the U.S.’ sprawling intelligence community and have access to the country’s most sensitive national secrets.

That lack of experience and Pulte’s penchant for using information from the housing agencies to gin up prosecutions of Trump’s political rivals has alarmed intelligence analysts and federal lawmakers alike, who warn Pulte could weaponize the office against the president’s domestic political rivals and erode trust in U.S. intelligence.

“It’s the latest example of some of the amateurish, absurd assignments that Trump has made in the second term,” said Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and National Security Council official under the Obama administration who now runs the firm Global Situation Room. “It opens up the very real possibility we could see our intelligence structures and systems further eroded, and the role of intelligence used in more inappropriate and even illegal ways.”

Bruen said the move will elevate Pulte from receiving “cafeteria-type sensitive information to the crown jewels of our most protected secrets.”

That includes access to highly sensitive intelligence collection efforts and information about human intelligence sources and surveillance tools.

The White House, when asked about concerns about Pulte’s qualifications and whether he might weaponize the U.S. intelligence community, defended Trump’s choice.

“The President chooses the best and most talented people to serve in his Cabinet,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said by email. “That is why this Administration has achieved record successes for the American people. Bill Pulte is a great selection and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people.”

In his role atop the housing apparatus, Pulte used his access to mortgage records to refer some top Trump enemies for prosecution.

The Justice Department charged New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who previously prosecuted Trump, with bank fraud, a charge that was subsequently dismissed. Pulte’s criminal referral of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on similar allegations prompted Trump to attempt to fire her, a case that is still pending before the Supreme Court.

“We’ve seen what Pulte was willing to do with sensitive personal mortgage information by both disclosing it and weaponizing it against the president’s opponents,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a former senior director of the White House Situation Room and chief of staff to former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden. Pfeiffer is now director of the Hayden Center for intelligence at George Mason University.

“Do we really now want to give this guy access to all of our nation’s deepest, most sensitive national security secrets?” Pfeiffer asked. “I don’t think so.”

Pfeiffer said Pulte’s appointment would give him access to “any and all intelligence produced by the United States intelligence community.”

“These are tools that could very easily be pointed at American citizens,” he said, referring to surveillance options that he called “most powerful surveillance tools of any nation in the world.”

“There’s nothing technically that stops you from pointing them to American citizens,” Pfeiffer said.

Gabbard, in January, raised concerns from Congress members after she appeared at an FBI raid at a Georgia election office.

The choice of Pulte also speaks to how Trump views the DNI position, a former CIA station chief, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence concerns, told CNBC.

Appointing a “lapdog is emblematic that he doesn’t have any respect or need for DNI,” the CIA veteran said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had a frosty reaction to Pulte’s nomination on Tuesday in brief remarks to reporters.

“We don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,” Thune told reporters at the Capitol when asked if he was concerned about Pulte using the perch to weaponize intelligence against the president’s domestic opponents.

Thune said he’s seeking more information from the White House “about the current state of their thinking about that position.” If the White House wants Pulte in the position full-time, Thune said Pulte would have a “lengthy road ahead of him.”

And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who recently lost his Senate primary election after Trump endorsed his opponent, questioned the choice of Pulte.

“I see no evidence of any qualification for the job,” he told reporters at the Capitol.

Democrats, meanwhile, eviscerated Pulte’s nomination.

Senate intelligence committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said Trump has “chosen an official who has demonstrated not just willingness but eagerness to use the authorities of government to pursue political retribution.”

“The concern is not only that Mr. Pulte lacks the ‘extensive national security experience’ required by statute for the job, which was created after intelligence failures led to the deaths of thousands of Americans on 9/11. It is that he appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need,” Warner said in a statement.

Whether there is any apparatus for Congress to boot Pulte before his 210-day clock runs out, however, is less clear.

The law that created the ODNI stipulated that a replacement in the event of a vacancy “shall have extensive national security experience and management expertise.” It also says that the Principal Deputy DNI, currently Aaron Lukas, “shall act for, and exercise the powers of, the Director of National Intelligence during the absence or disability of the Director of National Intelligence or during a vacancy in the position of Director of National Intelligence.”

“Could somebody take [Trump] to court over this appointment? Possibly,” Pfeiffer said, but he warned that Pulte’s time clock would likely run out before the case goes anywhere. “I just don’t think it’s an effective tool.”

—Eamon Javers contributed to this report.