Himes Statement on Senate Confirmation of Jay Clayton

Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Jim Himes (CT-04) released the following statement: “Bill Pulte’s tenure as an unqualified and illegally appointed Acting Director of National Intelligence has thankfully ended. His short time in the post coincided with publicly announced cuts to the ODNI workforce that have not been adequately briefed to the Intelligence Committees, as well as the farcical attempt by the President to call into question the results of the 2020 election. I have known Jay Clayton for many years, and in all of our interactions he struck me as a serious person with integrity. That said, I have been disappointed in Mr. Clayton’s recent actions, including his role in a now quashed subpoena of New York Times reporters and his unwillingness to clearly state the results of the 2020 election at his confirmation hearing. I hope that Mr. Clayton understands that the highest demand of the ODNI is to provide apolitical intelligence to policymakers, and that politicization of that process will only endanger our national security. I am committed to providing rigorous oversight of the ODNI and the broader intelligence community to ensure they adhere to that mission and to the law.”