Trump Nominates Corporate Attorney With No Intelligence Background to Lead U.S. Intelligence Community

President Trump nominated Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as Director of National Intelligence on June 11. Clayton spent his career in corporate law and as SEC chairman from 2017 to 2020, focusing on financial crime. The DNI position requires overseeing spy networks and foreign intelligence collection — areas outside his experience. The Senate Intelligence Committee holds his confirmation hearing June 17.