Trump Nominates Jay Clayton as Permanent Director of National Intelligence

President Donald Trump on June 12 announced the nomination of Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to serve as Director of National Intelligence, hours after the House of Representatives failed to extend a critical surveillance authority that the Pulte controversy had placed in jeopardy ^[1][2]. Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump's first term and a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, would require Senate confirmation before assuming the post. ^[2][3] The Senate Intelligence Committee scheduled a confirmation hearing for June 17, with the possibility of a committee vote the following day if members reach unanimous agreement, though a full Senate floor vote could otherwise wait until late July. ^[2]

The nomination arrives against the backdrop of a two-week standoff over Trump's earlier decision to designate Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting Director of National Intelligence, effective June 19. ^[8][10] The acting designation does not require Senate confirmation and, under applicable federal law, permits Pulte to serve up to 210 days. ^[12][14] Critics raised a separate statutory objection: the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which established ODNI, requires the director to possess "extensive national security expertise," a qualification that career intelligence professionals and Democratic lawmakers argued Pulte plainly lacks. ^[11][19] Senate Majority Leader John Thune separately signaled that the Senate did not want a "weaponized DNI," calling for qualified professionals in the role. ^[10] Trump, for his part, said Pulte's assignment is explicitly temporary and that he tasked Pulte with executing "the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies." ^[15] Trump told The Wall Street Journal that ODNI is "unnecessary and/or too big" and raised the possibility of eliminating the office entirely, a step that would require congressional action to reverse the 2004 statute. ^[12][14]

The Pulte designation immediately disrupted reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes warrantless collection of foreign intelligence targets' communications under judicial oversight and feeds more than half of the president's daily intelligence briefing. ^[17] The House rejected a three-week short-term extension on June 12 by a 198-218 vote, falling well short of the two-thirds majority required under the suspension-of-the-rules procedure that leadership chose. ^[16] Nineteen House Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in voting against the measure. ^[16] Three separate Senate unanimous consent attempts to pass a short-term extension also failed the same day, and the House left Washington for a scheduled recess with members not expected to return until June 23. ^[16][1] Section 702 is set to expire June 13. Notably, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has already recertified Section 702 collection procedures through March 2027, meaning existing surveillance activities may continue under that court order even if the underlying statutory authority lapses, though intelligence agencies and telecommunications companies will face legal uncertainty about new collection. ^[18]

The Clayton nomination drew bipartisan expressions of support. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, told reporters he has "great respect for Jay Clayton," though he questioned why the nomination had not come before the House broke. ^[1][4] Top House Intelligence Democrat Jim Himes said a week's earlier announcement "may have avoided lots of pain." ^[2] Thune said he would move to confirm Clayton "as quickly as possible," noting the nominee's prior Senate confirmation record: Clayton was confirmed as SEC chair during Trump's first term and was subsequently confirmed as U.S. Attorney for SDNY in August 2025 after a prior stall in that process, when a federal judge appointed him to the post in the interim. ^[2][4][5] CIA Director John Ratcliffe recommended Clayton for the DNI post, according to CBS News. ^[5]

Clayton's professional profile is primarily transactional and regulatory rather than intelligence. He spent his career at Sullivan & Cromwell specializing in capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, then chaired the SEC from 2017 to 2020. ^[5][2] He holds no known prior intelligence community experience. If confirmed, he would succeed Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned in May citing her husband's diagnosis with a rare bone cancer, effective June 30, and who would become the first permanent DNI of Trump's second term to depart. ^[4][12] Under Gabbard, ODNI reduced its roughly 1,800-person workforce by approximately 30 percent through its "ODNI 2.0" initiative. ^[8][12] Trump has indicated that he wants Pulte to accelerate that reduction before Clayton arrives, and CBS News reported the White House envisions Clayton taking charge of a significantly downsized operation. ^[5][14] Sen. Tom Cotton has introduced legislation that would cap ODNI staffing at 650 employees, framing the current structure as exceeding the office's original coordination mandate. ^[12]

The ODNI was created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 in direct response to findings of the 9/11 Commission that intelligence agencies had failed to share threat information across the government. ^[2] The office is responsible for coordinating 18 intelligence agencies. ^[5] Any structural elimination or fundamental consolidation of ODNI would require Congress to amend or repeal the 2004 statute. The administration has not publicly introduced legislation to that effect, and Trump's statements about possible termination remain at the level of presidential preference rather than formal legislative proposal. The nomination of Clayton, combined with the FISA Section 702 expiration, presents the Senate with two intersecting national security questions: whether to move rapidly to confirm a permanent director who can restore bipartisan credibility to ODNI, and how to revive the surveillance authority once members return from recess.