WASHINGTON — President Trump has his new director of national intelligence.
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton to the top spy position (DNI) in a 51-47 party-line vote, ending more than a month of temporary leadership atop the intelligence community and handing the former Wall Street regulator one of the world’s most powerful national security posts.
Clayton, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and most recently US attorney for the Southern District of New York, will be responsible for coordinating the work of all 18 American intelligence agencies, including the CIA and NSA.
Republicans argued Clayton had far more experience than acting intelligence director Bill Pulte — claiming the 60-year-old’s record running the SEC and one of the nation’s most powerful prosecuting offices made him the right choice to handle escalating threats from China, Iran and Russia.
Democrats seemed eager to get Pulte — the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency — out of office amid ongoing layoffs at the ODNI after Pulte announced in a Sunday X post that he had finished a fourth round of “thoughtful, measured layoffs.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) said earlier this month that he was “anxious to get a permanent DNI” to replace Pulte, who Warner described as one of the least qualified people for the job.
Despite Warner’s statement, no Democrats voted to advance Clayton’s nomination Monday.
During his confirmation hearing earlier, Clayton acknowledged he had never worked inside the intelligence community but insisted his experience leading large organizations and handling sensitive national security matters as head of the Southern District of New York had adequately prepared him for the role.
“We interact with US intelligence community and counterterrorism officials continuously on dozens of important national security matters,” he told lawmakers at the time.
Democrats also pressed Clayton over subpoenas issued by his office to New York Times reporters seeking information about leaks concerning potential security vulnerabilities to Air Force One. The Justice Department later said those subpoenas would be withdrawn.
Trump nominated Clayton in June to replace former DNI Tulsi Gabbard, calling him “one of the most respected” lawyers in the country.
“Few people anywhere in the legal community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump said when announcing the pick.
