President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence laid out his vision for the agency on Tuesday, promising a zero-tolerance policy for state-sponsored operatives who fail to properly disclose their covert activities.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Jay Clayton, announced Tuesday that his first priority upon confirmation will be transitioning the global espionage community to a disclosure-based regulatory framework. Speaking to reporters outside the transition headquarters, Clayton outlined a comprehensive strategy to ensure that hostile foreign nations adhere to standard corporate governance practices when conducting cyberwarfare against the United States.
Clayton, who previously served as a prominent Wall Street lawyer and SEC enforcer, argued that the intelligence community has historically been far too lax regarding international compliance reporting. According to a 40-page memo circulated among Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staffers, the nominee plans to reorganize the nation’s eighteen intelligence agencies to focus primarily on preventing foreign intelligence services from gaining an unfair market advantage through the theft of classified intelligence.
If a hostile intelligence directorate intends to systematically dismantle our critical power grid, they are required by established norms to file a Form 8-K within four business days so the market can accurately price in the sabotage.
The former SEC chairman pointed to his regulatory tenure as a blueprint for his approach to national security, noting that he successfully oversaw an office known for resolving high-profile cases with manageable financial penalties. Clayton stated he intends to employ the same aggressive tactics against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Russian Federal Security Service, threatening to levy severe, tax-deductible civil fines against the adversarial agencies until they sign a consent decree admitting no wrongdoing.
According to transition aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss unannounced policy shifts, the incoming DNI has already drafted a proposal to replace the CIA’s clandestine paramilitary operations with a network of independent external auditors, a move he believes will dramatically reduce overhead while allowing the U.S. to peacefully monitor foreign nuclear proliferation via quarterly earnings calls.