President Trump nominated Walter "Jay" Clayton III, the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be Director of National Intelligence, Reuters reported on June 11, 2026. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence scheduled an open confirmation hearing for June 17, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Dirksen G50.

Clayton's background differs markedly from the typical path to the DNI office. He spent most of his career as a corporate attorney before serving as SEC chairman from 2017 to 2020, where he focused on capital formation policy and enforcement. Trump appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2020, adding prosecutorial experience in financial crime, public corruption, and national security cases — though that jurisdiction operates at a narrower scale than the Director of National Intelligence's broad mandate.

The DNI role, established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, functions as the president's principal intelligence adviser and coordinates the 18-agency Intelligence Community, including the CIA, NSA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and intelligence divisions within every major cabinet department. The position holds statutory authority over intelligence budgets and personnel assignments but has historically competed with the CIA director and the Pentagon for control over actual intelligence operations.

Clayton will face questions about his depth in signals intelligence — the collection of electronic communications — human source recruitment and operation, and the President's Daily Brief process, the classified intelligence summary delivered to the president each morning. These represent core functions that pass through the DNI's office daily.

The Senate committee will conduct both open and closed sessions. The public hearing on June 17 will air a portion of questioning, though classified topics cannot be addressed without security clearance restrictions. The civilian leadership of the intelligence community has already shifted considerably under the current administration, and Clayton's confirmation will test whether his law enforcement and regulatory background can translate to overseeing the government's vast classified intelligence apparatus.