Trump names Pulte acting DNI; Clayton nominated as permanent

On 2 June 2026 President Donald J. Trump announced that he would install William J. Pulte, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting Director of National Intelligence in succession to Tulsi Gabbard, whose resignation as Director of National Intelligence — announced in May 2026 citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis — takes effect 30 June 2026. Pulte will retain his directorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency concurrently with the acting-DNI role.¹²³ The President separately nominated Jay Clayton — who has served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York since April 2025 and as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 to December 2020 — as the permanent Director of National Intelligence; the nomination is subject to consideration by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and confirmation by the full Senate under the appointment-and-confirmation procedure at 50 U.S.C. § 3023(b).⁴⁵ The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was established by section 1011 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-458) and is codified at 50 U.S.C. § 3023; the Director serves as head of the Intelligence Community and as principal adviser to the President for intelligence matters under § 3023(b)(2), with the IC composition set out at 50 U.S.C. § 3003.⁶⁷⁸

1. The acting-officer designation under which Pulte will discharge the duties of the Director of National Intelligence operates under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. §§ 3345-3349d. § 3345(a) authorises three sources for an acting designation in a Senate- confirmable vacancy: the first assistant to the office; any Senate-confirmed official; or any officer or employee of the agency at a GS-15 or equivalent level for at least 90 days in the preceding year. As FHFA Director, Pulte is Senate-confirmed, satisfying the second-source authority. The FVRA at § 3346(a)(1) limits acting service to 210 days from the vacancy, with automatic re-extension of the 210-day clock if a first or second nomination has been submitted to the Senate within the period; the Clayton nomination would extend Pulte’s acting period beyond the initial 210 days while the nomination remains pending in the Senate.⁹¹⁰

2. The Gabbard resignation removes from the office the former Member of Congress (D/R-Hawaii) whom President Trump had nominated as Director of National Intelligence on 20 January 2025 and whom the Senate confirmed on 12 February 2025 by a vote of 52-48 (entirely along party lines with one Republican defection from former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky). Gabbard’s announcement cites her husband’s cancer diagnosis as the reason for the resignation. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) is the Senate-side oversight committee for the nomination.¹¹²¹²

3. Pulte’s appointment to a national-security role while concurrently serving as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has drawn Senate Democratic objection that has carried over into the parallel Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 reauthorisation impasse; Senate Democrats including Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) have conditioned Democratic support for Section 702 reauthorisation on withdrawal of the Pulte acting-DNI arrangement and timely Senate confirmation of a permanent Director with national-security experience.¹³¹⁴

4. Clayton’s nomination follows a 2025 Senate confirmation for the U.S. Attorney role and a 2017 Senate confirmation for the SEC Chair role. The 50 U.S.C. § 3023(b) confirmation pathway requires Senate Select Committee on Intelligence consideration with hearing and committee vote followed by Senate floor consideration. The President’s Article II appointment authority and the for-cause-removal absence for the DNI office (the DNI serves at the pleasure of the President under § 3023(b)) frame the Clayton nomination within the broader Senate-confirmation context for senior intelligence positions; the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency role, separately occupied, is subject to a parallel confirmation pathway under 50 U.S.C. § 3036.¹⁵¹⁶