Senate Confirms Jay Clayton To Keep Facts Out Of Intelligence
The Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, formally adopting the principle that America’s top intelligence official should not be distracted by determining whether observable events occurred. Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, won approval after declining to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. He acknowledged only that the result was certified, displaying the disciplined caution of a man who sees rain, notices an umbrella and concludes that several administrative procedures may have taken place.
President Donald Trump celebrated the confirmation as a decisive victory over intelligence contaminated by information. “Jay is incredibly intelligent because he never rushes into facts, which can be very unfair and are frequently promoted by people who want you to know things,” Trump said. “He will examine every piece of evidence carefully, and then he will wait for me to tell him which pieces are evidence.” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton praised Clayton’s refusal to be cornered by historical records, vote totals or the ordinary meaning of basic verbs. Democrats warned that Clayton might tailor intelligence to please the president, but Republicans dismissed the concern, noting that telling the customer what he wants to hear is the foundation of both national security and successful hotel management.
Sen. Mark Warner argued that intelligence assessments must remain objective and independent, an outdated model under which analysts gathered facts before reaching conclusions. Clayton is expected to replace that cumbersome process with strategic uncertainty, allowing the administration to classify unwelcome events as unverified, disputed or conducted by people with bad ratings. Under the new system, presidential briefings will avoid inflammatory phrases such as “Russia invaded,” “China launched” and “the election was decided,” favoring the more rigorous formulation, “Something may have happened, although reasonable patriots reserve the right to blame whoever the president mentioned most recently.” Clayton’s refusal to identify the winner of an election settled by votes, courts, certifications and an inauguration establishes beyond dispute that he is uniquely qualified to determine reality.
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