SpyWeek: Trump Tries Again with Jay Clayton, Patel Ignites Graham Conspiracy Talk, FBI Probes Air Force One Leak

Also: Musical chairs at ODNI, CIA analysts' woes, bad Iran intel, Moscow's school for assassins, and more

Room at the Top: Jay Clayton, Trump’s on, off and on again pick to run U.S. intelligence, was already bound to face tough questioning about his qualifications and views when he eventually appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing: Would he be a raw tool of President Trump’s retribution campaigns, like his Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, who immediately began cleaning house of career professionals on day one? And what about his qualifications for the job, which by law demands the DNI “shall have extensive national security expertise”? Being a former S.E.C. Commissioner and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, host to many a terrorism trial, hardly reaches that standard—but no matter. The bipartisan fervor to eject housing magnate and MAGA enthusiast Pulte—not to mention secure passage of the lapsed Section 702 surveillance bill—apparently eclipses any of Clayton’s shortcomings. To be sure, questions about news breaking late Friday that Clayton signed subpoenas for several New York Times reporters to appear before a grand jury assembled to investigate a leak that Trump risked a national calamity by flying to Turkey on a jet donated by Qatar with insufficient defense systems will undoubtedly come up at his Wednesday hearing, but they likely won’t threaten the nomination of Clayton, who has received praise from some prominent Democrats.

Trump’s Plane Switch: Secret Service officials may have insisted Trump abandon the 747 Qatar gifted him and leave Turkey on the regular Boeing jet used as Air Force One because of an Israeli warning of an Iranian plan to kill Trump, according to news reports. “The details of the plot that Israel warned about were not immediately clear, and two sources familiar with the matter said the US had not vetted it themselves nor were they tracking it before the Israeli warning,” they said. “The US government has long warned that Iran may try to kill Trump in retaliation for the 2020 drone strike he ordered which killed a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.” The jet from Qatar, although extensively refitted by U.S. engineers and technicians, allegedly lacked systems to deter missiles. (WSJ and CNN)

ODNI Shape Shifting: Meanwhile, the game of musical chairs continues at the ODNI.