Warren P. Strobel and Lauren Kaori Gurley, writing for The Washington Post (gift link courtesy of Bluesky posters):

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he was appointing Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, tapping a staunch political supporter who heads a federal mortgage regulation agency but has no intelligence experience.

Strobel and Gurley could have ended that sentence one word earlier.

The 2004 law establishing ODNI says that anyone "nominated for appointment as Director of National Intelligence shall have extensive national security expertise.”

Pulte has “no time in the military. No time in Congress. No time in the diplomatic corps. No time in law enforcement,” Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said at a hearing Tuesday. “It is an insult.”

Pulte is profoundly unqualified for the role but exhibits deep loyalty to Trump —two traits Trump requires when doling out jobs.