With Bill Pulte just days into his job acting director of national intelligence, senators on both sides of the aisle are already expressing concern about his performance.

Pulte began Friday, after weeks of criticism over his appointment. On Monday, he reportedly began firing intelligence officials and staff at the DNI en masse, causing issues with some lawmakers who say it’s not appropriate for an acting official, not confirmed by the Senate for that particular role, to do so.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced legislation Tuesday that would lay out the hierarchy of the agency and bar presidents from installing acting directors.

The bill would require the principal deputy DNI — a Senate-confirmed position — to step in as acting head in future cases of vacancy.

“If there is an intelligence failure, a missed threat, or a national security crisis on Bill Pulte’s watch, Americans will pay the price, and President Trump will be to blame,” the Virginia Democrat said in a press release. “He made the deliberate choice to pass over qualified national security professionals and put an unqualified loyalist in charge.”

Warner and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, wrote to Pulte on Monday “to express our expectation that you will not take actions while temporarily serving as the Acting Director of National Intelligence that are more appropriately left to a Senate-confirmed Director.”

Pulte has been the center of controversy on Capitol Hill since Trump earlier this month tapped him to replace the now-former DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Democrats have raised concerns about his lack of intelligence experience as well as his past referrals of some of Trump’s perceived foes to the Department of Justice for mortgage fraud allegations in his role as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Given your lack of experience within the Intelligence Community, it is difficult to imagine that in such a short amount of time you have already developed fully informed views as to how to shrink ODNI without incurring risks to national security,” Warner and Himes wrote. “Making significant structural changes to ODNI, to include a reduction in force, is not an appropriate course of action for anyone in an acting capacity, let alone without consultation with Congress, and you should refrain from doing so.”

Pulte’s appointment was controversial enough to spur Democrats to walk away earlier this month from a bipartisan deal to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, an authority that Pulte would oversee in his role.

After a vote in the House fell short, that authority expired June 12. The next week, Trump directed Jay Clayton, his permanent pick to be DNI director, not to appear for his confirmation hearing, which had been scheduled for June 17. A timeline for his confirmation remains unclear.

Firings fallout

Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., largely defended the firings on Tuesday. “ODNI has employees mostly from other intelligence agencies,” he said. “I think, in most cases, they would be better off doing real intelligence work at those agencies. That’s returning intelligence officers to their agencies.”

“The ODNI is too big and too bloated,” Cotton said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said some aspects of ODNI can “be made more efficient, more effective, and streamlined.”

“Frankly, I think that’s something that many of us agree on,” the South Dakota Republican said. But “how they go about that will be something we’ll want some visibility into,” he continued, saying Cotton and other Intelligence members “will have some input into that.”

“It’s fair to say that there is a consensus view around here that it is time for the ODNI to be scaled down,” Thune said.

Cotton said he “has a plan for that. I’ve worked with the administration on it. Some of it happened under Director Gabbard. It’s going to continue under Acting Director Pulte.”

“Once we confirm Director Clayton, I’m sure it will continue as well,” he said.

But some Republicans are wary of Pulte’s actions during his first few days on the job.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., agreed Tuesday that if Pulte does proper analysis and “only eliminates the people whose jobs can either be automated or never should have been there, good.”

“But my guess is based on his past experience, it’s going to be another hot steaming pile of DOGE shit,” Tillis continued, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency.

“I think he’s an incompetent sycophant and not the right person to lead DNI and you’re undermining what the confirmed administrator should be doing,” said Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term.

Clayton, Tillis said, is “going to inherit what I believe is going to be a mess left behind by Pulte.”