No guts, No Glory

Senate confirms legally unqualified Jay Clayton to head US Intelligence

The Senate confirmed Jay Clayton to be director of National Intelligence on a party-line vote Tuesday evening, a move evidently driven by the twin urgencies of reviving a controversial electronic surveillance law and ridding the agency of Bill Pulte, a Trump sycophant who boasted hours earlier of carrying out a “fifth and final” round of mass firings during his nearly two-months tenure as acting director.

The exact number of DNI employees let go has not been disclosed, but last week The Washington Post reported that the “ODNI had about 2,000 employees at the start of Trump’s second term,” adding, “It is now little more than half that size, according to congressional aides.” Since Pulte took office, ODNI has lost about 200 personnel to firings and reassignments.