Fannie Mae Chairman William Pulte is going to be acting director of national intelligence, President Donald Trump said on June 2.

Pulte “has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Pulte, 38, directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairs Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.

He will remain in those positions while acting as the national intelligence director, according to Trump.

Tulsi Gabbard, 45, the director of national intelligence since early 2025, said in May that she is resigning effective June 30. Gabbard said her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer and she was stepping away from public service to support him.

The director of national intelligence is the head of the American intelligence community, overseeing various agencies such as the CIA and being the top intelligence adviser to the president.

The director “works closely with a President-appointed, Senate-confirmed Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence to effectively integrate all national and homeland security intelligence in defense of the homeland and in support of U.S. national security interests,” according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Pulte shared an image of Trump’s post on social media. He has not commented on the development.

Democrats criticized the selection.

“Americans have every reason to worry about what happens when the official charged with overseeing everything from counterterrorism to foreign election threats is chosen for his willingness to advance the president’s political agenda rather than his experience,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

“That is how intelligence becomes politicized, how inconvenient facts disappear, how agencies charged with protecting our democracy instead become tools to manipulate it, and how Americans are left more vulnerable to a terrorist attack.”

Others praised the pick.

“Bill is a great guy who recognizes that the bureaucracy of the intel community must respond to the elected leadership (rather than the other way around),” Vice President JD Vance said on X. “He'll do great!”

Pulte was sworn in as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency on March 14, 2025. All Republican senators and three Democratic senators voted to confirm him.

Pulte previously founded an investment firm, was a member of the board of a major homebuilding company, and started a nonprofit that works to beautify cities. 

Gabbard has been the only Senate-confirmed director of national intelligence in Trump’s second term.

Her permanent replacement will require Senate confirmation.