- The Senate confirmed Clayton on a 51-47 party-line vote
- He comes from the U.S. attorney post in Manhattan and previously chaired the SEC
- He inherits an ODNI that has shed roughly 30 percent of its staff across five recent rounds of layoffs
Jay Clayton has received Senate confirmation as director of national intelligence. Senators voted 51-47, splitting along party lines, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Clayton has served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York since April 2025 and chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2017 to 2020. He will now lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 federal intelligence agencies and units.
Budget and staffing pressure runs through the intelligence community well beyond ODNI. The Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24 will take up data, artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities and secure information-sharing as agencies modernize under tighter budgets. Save your spot now.
What Does Jay Clayton Inherit at ODNI?
The office has shrunk considerably in recent weeks. ODNI Acting Director Bill Pulte said Tuesday that he has carried out five rounds of layoffs, reducing headcount by roughly 30 percent since several weeks ago.
Clayton told the Senate Intelligence Committee this month that he sees ODNI’s role as oversight rather than operations, comparing it to a board of directors. Where the office has moved into operational work, he said, it should pull back.
Clayton will also take on a legislative problem. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a surveillance authority the intelligence community relies on, expired in June, and restoring it will require him to work with Congress.
How Did Clayton Reach the Nomination?
President Donald Trump nominated Clayton in June. The nomination followed the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, a 2026 Wash100 Award winner, who cited her husband’s cancer diagnosis. Trump then named Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting DNI in early June.
Clayton chaired Apollo Global Management after leaving the SEC and rejoined Sullivan & Cromwell as counsel and senior policy adviser. He served on the board of American Express and co-chaired the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Law and Economics from 2022 to 2025.
