President Trump has nominated Jay Clayton, the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to serve as the next Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Announcing the nomination on Truth Social, Trump described Clayton as a “very Highly Respected” attorney and highlighted his leadership roles in both government and private practice. Trump noted Clayton’s service as SEC chairman, his tenure at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, and his current role leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The president also urged the Senate to confirm Clayton quickly.
If confirmed, Clayton would oversee the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as the principal intelligence advisor to the president.
The nomination comes the week after Trump appointed Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.
Clayton has built a career spanning law, financial regulation, and public service. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988, a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Cambridge in 1990, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1993. After law school, he clerked for Judge Marvin Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
He spent more than two decades at Sullivan & Cromwell, a law firm, where he worked on major business and financial transactions. In 2017, Trump nominated Clayton to lead the SEC, and he was confirmed by the Senate later that year. Clayton served as SEC chairman until December 2020.
Following his departure from the SEC, Clayton joined Apollo Global Management and later returned to Sullivan & Cromwell. In April 2025, Trump named him acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a position he subsequently secured through approval by the district’s judges in August 2025.
The nomination now heads to the Senate, where Clayton will undergo the confirmation process to become the nation’s next Director of National Intelligence.
