"President Trump did not nominate you for confirmation as permanent DNI," Schiff wrote, "and it would be inappropriate for you to pursue any additional leadership, organizational or staffing changes to ODNI during your temporary tenure."

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Grenell, however, sniped at Schiff in a tweet after the California Democrat's letter began circulating, saying, “His letter was sent to the press before it was sent to me.”

"These press leaks politicizing the intelligence community must stop,” he added.

A House Intel Committee aide disputed Grenell's claim, emphasizing that the letter was sent to his office at 1:14 p.m. and shared with the press 14 minutes later.

Grenell, who Trump installed as acting DNI last month to replace the previous temporary head Joseph Maguire, was moved to the position after a stint as U.S. ambassador to Germany. Democrats raised concerns at the time that Grenell, who has limited national security experience, was being installed in the high-level intelligence post because of his loyalty to Trump. Schiff is demanding that Grenell produce by April 16 a detailed written explanation of all of his organizational changes.

In his letter, Schiff also sounds the alarm on Trump's abrupt removal of intelligence community watchdog Michael Atkinson, whose handling of a whistleblower report related to Trump's conduct toward Ukraine led the House to impeach him last fall. He is asking Grenell to indicate whether he ever exercised his authority to prevent Atkinson from completing any of his unfinished work before Trump placed him on administrative leave and initiated his firing.

Atkinson had been the last remaining Senate-confirmed official in office of the intelligence director. The last Senate-confirmed DNI, Dan Coats, departed in August. The agency's general counsel, Jason Klitenic, left for a private-sector role earlier this year. And Trump also removed the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Russell Travers, in recent weeks.

