Trump names US attorney Jay Clayton new intelligence chief: What to know
President Donald Trump announced he was nominating US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former SEC chairman Jay Clayton to the country’s top intelligence post.
A long-time prosecutor, Clayton has been tapped by Trump to serve as the director of national intelligence (DNI). The DNI oversees the 18 US intelligence agencies that make up the country’s intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post announcing the nomination on Thursday.
Clayton, a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, a white-shoe law firm, served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2020.
Clayton’s nomination as US attorney for the Southern District — a top federal prosecutor role — faced hurdles in the Senate in 2025. He was ultimately appointed to the role by a federal judge.
He will have to be approved by the Senate before beginning the role.
The nomination comes weeks after former DNI Tulsi Gabbard resigned after 15 months in the role, citing her husband’s diagnosis of a rare form of bone cancer.
Earlier this month Trump tapped Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as acting DNI. Trump faced bipartisan pushback over Pulte due to his use of his official role to investigate Trump’s political opponents.
The pressure increased on Thursday when the House and Senate rejected bills for a short-term renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Oversight of the intelligence community under Pulte was among the factors fueling opposition to the measure.
Section 702 allows US intelligence agencies to collect the communications of non-US persons located abroad, including communications that involve Americans. The program has long been controversial among civil liberties advocates.
