# "He Has No Intelligence Background": Richard Clarke Reacts to Trump's DNI Pick

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/he-has-no-intelligence-background-richard-clarke-reacts-to-trump-s-dni-pick
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/he-has-no-intelligence-background-richard-clarke-reacts-to-trump-s-dni-pick.md
Podcast: [The Smerconish Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155)
Published: 2026-06-05T19:08:15+00:00
Episode link: https://www.siriusxm.com
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/sxm.simplecastaudio.com/d49edecb-af71-4e40-b63b-f7bdc3faae1b/episodes/bdf1c35d-b624-414f-8ea4-1aa89aadddeb/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=d49edecb-af71-4e40-b63b-f7bdc3faae1b&awEpisodeId=bdf1c35d-b624-414f-8ea4-1aa89aadddeb&feed=Dv1m2CJC
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/episodes/he-has-no-intelligence-background-richard-clarke-reacts-to-trump-s-dni-pick
Duration seconds: 1744

## Resource

President Trump has named housing executive Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence, a move that's drawing scrutiny from both national security experts and lawmakers. Michael examines the nomination, the qualifications traditionally required for the DNI role, and whether Republican resistance to some of Trump's recent actions signals a broader shift within the party. Former White House counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke joins the program to explain what the DNI actually does, why the position was created after 9/11, and why Pulte's appointment has raised concerns inside the intelligence community. Original air date 3 June 2026. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/episodes/he-has-no-intelligence-background-richard-clarke-reacts-to-trump-s-dni-pick/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/he-has-no-intelligence-background-richard-clarke-reacts-to-trump-s-dni-pick.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.