SHAKEN AND STIRRED

Secret Chaos Inside Trump’s Spy Agency Exposed

Jay Clayton has introduced sweeping changes to undo the work of his last two predecessors.

Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence has taken several steps to resolve the chaos gripping the spy agency, according to a report.

Jay Clayton hopes to restore order at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) through a mix of firings, reshuffling, and scrapping projects overseen by his predecessors, Tulsi Gabbard and Bill Pulte, sources told The New York Times.

Clayton, who was sworn in as director of national intelligence in August, is said to want to return the office to its “traditional” functions after months of “upheaval,” including coordinating intelligence across the country’s 18 intelligence agencies.

The sweeping changes have seen the ODNI remove a team Gabbard put in place to declassify old intelligence files, as the work was deemed wasteful and unnecessary.

Clayton has also taken steps to halt initiatives put in place by Pulte, whom Trump installed as acting director of national intelligence after Gabbard stepped down in June, despite his lack of relevant experience.

Pulte, 38, the grandson of construction magnate William Pulte, has been blamed for putting several wild ideas into Trump’s head, such as converting the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House into an indoor swimming pool and demolishing the Kennedy Center.

Pulte seemingly continued these ambitious plans during his stint as the nation’s top intelligence official.

When Clayton took over the role, he scrapped plans to convert the office of the official who oversees the president’s daily intelligence briefing into a private dining room, the Times reported.

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Clayton also ordered a halt to plans to build a firing range at the ODNI’s Virginia headquarters, Liberty Crossing, although it is unclear whether this was Pulte’s idea. Gabbard is said to have “looked skeptically” at the firing range proposal when she was leading the ODNI.

A small museum at the ODNI, work on which was completed before Clayton took over, has also drawn complaints from officials who consider it wasteful. However, while Clayton said the dining room and firing range projects could not be justified, the museum has been allowed to remain.

Elsewhere, Clayton has imposed stricter restrictions on overseas and domestic executive travel as part of cost-cutting measures.

Clayton has also fired several officials, reassigned others and installed a new chief operating officer as part of his overhaul, sources told the Times.

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The changes are reported to have led Aaron Lukas, a veteran intelligence official who serves under Clayton as principal deputy director of national intelligence (PDDNI), to look for a new role—a claim denied by the ODNI.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for comment.

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