As of this week, President Trump has exactly 2½ years left in office. And for the final year of that timeframe, from January 2028 through the end of his term, the nation’s attention will turn principally to the race for his successor.
Translation: even if Trump keeps both the House and Senate in the midterms—an uphill climb for most presidents historically—he has basically 18 months left to implement his key priorities.
That shrinking timeline of political influence makes it even more important for the president to surround himself for the remainder of his term with a team that is fully aligned with his goals and can support him in achieving them with a minimum of drama or distractions.
Enter Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee for the important cabinet position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Clayton is a rare species in Washington—a smart, no-drama executive with a proven leadership record advancing the president’s objectives without seeking the spotlight for himself. He is a workhorse, not a show horse.
To understand the importance of those qualities, it helps to review the mixed performance of Trump’s national security appointees in both his terms in office.
For different reasons, several on Trump’s senior team in his first term never clicked or worked well with him, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, DNI Dan Coats, Defense Secretaries James Mattis and Mark Esper, as well as National Security Advisors H.R. McMaster and John Bolton. All were sidelined over time before departing their positions, voluntarily or otherwise.
Over his last year-and-a-half in office, Trump finally was able to surround himself with a national security team that worked well together and implemented his agenda successfully with minimal drama. These included DNI John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
With this new, closely integrated team, Trump made great strides in advancing America’s interests on the world stage. Among other accomplishments, he rebalanced the US relationship with China, forged the Abraham Accords in the Middle East, countered Iran, and defeated the ISIS caliphate.
Imagine how much more Trump would have accomplished in his first term if he had this same, no-drama, well-synced team working for him from Day One.
In his second term, Trump’s national security team has had a similar mixed record. He surrounded himself with talented and effective leaders such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director Ratcliffe and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who have worked together well to help him navigate a broad set of challenges.
On the other side of the ledger, several of Trump’s national security leaders, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, DNI Tulsi Gabbard and Attorney General Pam Bondi, were less well synced with the president and had trouble at times implementing his agenda or were distracted from it publicly.
To their credit, all three stepped aside earlier this year, inviting Trump to appoint new leaders who could advance his goals more effectively. Unfortunately, a couple of their polarizing colleagues have chosen not to follow their lead and have stuck around despite their sky-high disapproval ratings, putting Trump’s agenda and control of Congress further at risk in the process.
This history is precisely why Jay Clayton is the right choice at the right time to serve as Trump’s new Director of National Intelligence. He is a proven and effective leader, having served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the full length of Trump’s first term, and currently as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, both jobs at times involving national security matters.
More importantly, Clayton already has a strong working relationship both with Trump and current CIA Director and former DNI Ratcliffe, who reportedly recommended him for the position. No training wheels here—Clayton won’t need to waste time learning how to integrate well with Trump and his senior team.
Above all, Clayton is a quiet leader focused on implementing the president’s priorities with a minimum of drama, and is well-liked across party lines. Although he voted against confirming Clayton this week in the Senate Intelligence Committee, the panel’s ranking Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia told CBS’s Face the Nation last week, “I've known Jay for a long time. I like Jay. I worked well with him when he was at the SEC…I hope [he has the Republican votes to get the job soon].”
A quarter century ago, the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul” Mary J. Blige brought down the house at the 2002 Grammy Awards with an epic performance of her hit single “No More Drama.” With only 2½ years left in office, that’s exactly what President Trump needs from his leadership team to accomplish his goals. Jay Clayton exudes that vibe perfectly and will serve the country well as the next Director of National Intelligence.
John Ullyot is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a former Deputy Assistant to President Trump.
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