Trump taps Jay Clayton to lead U.S. intelligence agency

Donald Trump tapped Jay Clayton to run the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, elevating a Wall Street regulator and federal prosecutor to a post that coordinates the country’s sprawling intelligence apparatus. The choice signaled a preference for a lawyer-manager with institutional muscle at the top of the intelligence bureaucracy, not a career spy.

Clayton is currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most politically sensitive federal prosecutor jobs in the country. Before that, he chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission from May 4, 2017, to December 23, 2020. Trump announced the nomination after lawmakers pushed back on Bill Pulte’s service in an acting capacity, turning the intelligence post into a test of how aggressively the White House wants to control it.

The timing mattered because the ODNI sits over the U.S. Intelligence Community, a coalition of 18 agencies and organizations, and the office had been vacant since Tulsi Gabbard resigned last month. Congress was already wrestling with intelligence policy for fiscal year 2027 in May 2026, while renewed tension over surveillance authorities kept Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act at the center of the fight. That program was set to sunset on April 20, 2026, making the nomination part of a larger struggle over who sets the rules for intelligence collection and oversight.

Clayton’s résumé is different from the traditional intelligence-chief profile. His background in federal prosecution and securities enforcement suggests a focus on discipline, legal process, and interagency command rather than deep institutional roots inside the intelligence world. For senators, intelligence veterans, and civil-liberties critics, that difference will shape the hearing: whether Clayton would serve as an independent coordinator of the intelligence community or as a more overtly political instrument for a second Trump term.

Trump called Clayton a “highly respected” legal figure and urged the Senate to move quickly on confirmation. Senator Adam Schiff, reacting to Gabbard’s resignation, said, “Tulsi Gabbard’s only positive contribution to our nation’s national security is her resignation,” while also expressing sympathy for her family because of her husband’s serious health problem. With the intelligence post open and surveillance policy unsettled, Clayton’s confirmation would carry consequences far beyond personnel.