[Trump] pulled Bill Pulte, the head of a housing agency with zero national security background, and made him acting Director over all 18 intelligence agencies. This is the man who accused a sitting Federal Reserve governor of mortgage fraud and pushed hardest to fire the Fed chair. The backlash was bipartisan. Republican senators said out loud they saw no qualifications for the job. The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee warned he would bend the intelligence to fit what the President wants to hear. The fight even threatens the renewal of a major surveillance law. A Democratic House owns the Intelligence gavel. They will ask what a housing official is doing reading the nation’s secrets, and they will ask it on camera. (1)MS NOW has this report on Pulte, including commentary by Jack Smith, who organized the prosecution of January 6 Trumpistas who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 – prosecutions that were nullified by Trump’s shameless pardons (2):
Austria has borders with nine other countries (Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Italy). All of them are part of the Schengen Treaty Area, which means there are normally no border checkpoints on roads between Schengen countries. So it's kind of important for Austria to have good intelligence sharing with those countries. In any case, Vienna still lives up to its stereotype as a magnet for spies because seat if the International Atomic Energy Commission has its seat there. And Austria's bank secrecy laws are even stiffer than Switzerland's so Austria is particularly attractive for various foreign sheikhs, mobsters, and oligarchs Looking to launder money.
Back four governments ago in Austria (2017-2019), the country's main intelligence organization, known as the BVT. The Interior Minister at that time was Herbert Kickl of the far-right "Freedom Party" (FPÖ). He had a Vienna police unit raid the BVT (the local police are part of the Interior Ministry) to see what intelligence it was gathering on domestic terrorists who might be sympathetic to the FPÖ. The FPÖ, now headed by Kickl, is one of those parties J.D. Vance is encouraging as a defender of white civilization is also very pro-Russian in its foreign policy.
Karen Kneisl, the Austrian Foreign Minister in that same government, moved to Russia after she left office and basically functions as a propagandist for Putin’s government now.
The Austrian Chancellor in whose government Kneissel served as Foreign Minister was Sebastian Kurz, who after leaving office joined Peter Thiel’s stable of sponsored politicians, to which Vice President J.D. Vance belongs.
When that government fell in 2019 due to its chronic corruption, the Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen had to appoint a new Cabinet and he specified he would never appoint Kickl as a Cabinet member again because his BVT raid had led some countries to not trust Austria to protect intelligence Sources. Just this year, Van der Bellen implied that neighbor countries still serious limit their intelligence cooperation with Austria as a result of that incident.
This is why it's a really bad idea to appoint a fool, a nationalist zealot, or an incompetent sleazebag to head the national intelligence agency. I'm just sayin'...
This is a short BBC report from 2023 on Karen Kneissl: (3)
Notes:
(1) Jackson, Mitch (2026): The Verdict Is In. He Won't Survive Two More Years. Uncensored Objection 07/15/2026. <https://mitchthelawyer.substack.com/p/the-verdict-is-in-he-wont-survive?utm_source=publication-search> (Accessed: 2026-14-07).
(2) Intelligence chief Bill Pulte begins FIRING dozens of intelligence officials. MS NOW YouTube channel 07/03/2026. <https://youtu.be/4makitJU1bU?si=heKVOxt7xHV46PxK> (Accessed: 2026-16-07).
(3) Putin described as 'most intelligent gentleman' by former Austrian foreign minister. BBC News YouTube channel 12/07/2023. <https://youtu.be/1J1PYVDf9z4?si=ImXxij5aUpRxg6Nv> (Accessed: 2026-14-07).
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