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Jay Clayton sworn in as US director of national intelligence

The Guardian – US News

2h ago

Jay Clayton sworn in as US director of national intelligence

Summary

After a bumpy confirmation hearing, Clayton replaces acting director Bill Pulte to head US intelligence agencies Jay Clayton has been sworn in as the US’s top spy after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing during which ⁠he refused to directly ⁠acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. The oath of office was administered to Clayton on Tuesday by the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in the Oval Office as the president looked on and applauded. He becomes the ninth director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down in June . Clayton, a former US attorney for the southern district of New York and chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will oversee 18 US intelligence agencies. His appointment follows a turbulent two months in which the intelligence apparatus was temporarily led by Bill Pulte , the housing regulator whom Trump installed as acting director after Gabbard’s departure. Pulte’s appointment had unsettled some Republicans because of his lack of national security experience. Clayton brings substantial experience in law enforcement and government to the job. John Thune, the Senate majority leader, has called him a “proven leader” whose record inspired confidence. Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said Clayton had deep experience in national security threats. He added: “I look forward to making sure the men and women of the [intelligence community] have the resources they need to carry out our critical mission.” With just more than three months left before midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress, Trump has escalated efforts ‌to make “election security” a central issue, despite established findings that voter fraud is rare.

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After a bumpy confirmation hearing, Clayton replaces acting director Bill Pulte to head US intelligence agencies US politics live – latest updates Jay Clayton has been sworn in as the US’s top spy after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing during which ⁠he refused to directly ⁠acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. The oath of office was administered to Clayton on Tuesday by the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in the Oval Office as the president looked on and applauded. He becomes the ninth director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down in June . Continue reading...

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John Thune signals he’ll pursue a 2028 Senate run. Some aren’t sure he’ll follow through.

Amid an ongoing tiff with President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune recently joked that public service might be losing its thrill. “If he could find somebody else to do this job, it might be a big relief,” he told reporters last week after Trump declined to voice confidence in Thune as Senate GOP leader. But Thune said in an interview that he, for now, anticipates continuing his three-decade congressional career by seeking reelection in 2028. “My assumption is, going in, that I am,” he said last week after he was asked when he would make a decision about a fifth Senate term representing South Dakota. But he also left open the possibility things could change as he deals with a mercurial president , a precarious political environment for Republicans and questions that have bubbled up within corners of the GOP about whether he would pursue reelection. “You know, every election has an impact on that, so we’ll see how it comes out in November,” he added, before reiterating that “the assumption” is that he will run. Thune’s early assessment of his 2028 plans come as he fights to win elections set to take place this year — the midterm contests that will determine if Republicans keep the Senate majority and the subsequent closed-door, secret-ballot leadership elections that will determine if he remains top leader for another two years. Thune, according to most GOP senators, is secure in that job, even as Trump sowed doubt in an Oval Office gaggle last week when he was asked about his views of Thune’s leadership. “We’re going to find out, and I’ll let you know,” said the president, who has repeatedly pushed Thune to pass legislation, the SAVE America elections bill, that does not have the votes to advance. Even before the latest back-and-forth between the two men, private speculation has swirled around the Capitol about whether Thune might decide to give up his Senate seat just a few years after realizing his long-fought dream of leading the Senate GOP. “I wouldn’t be surprised if John Thune has had enough,” said one GOP senator who added that “no one would blame him” if he decided to retire in 2028. Like others quoted in this story, the senator was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Two other Senate Republicans, who both claimed no special knowledge of his intentions, predicted that Thune would retire in 2028. Another GOP senator accused Thune’s right-wing critics in the GOP of trying to use the SAVE America Act controversy to drive down his popularity back in South Dakota, while another Republican chalked any talk of retirement up to “gossip and speculation” versus credible information coming from inside Thune’s orbit. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas out of Congress.

How a generation of record-setting guides died in a disaster that killed a climbing legend

British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, who led the Broad Peak expedition, was best known for speed climbing the "14 peaks" Altogether, they summited Mount Everest dozens of times and achieved numerous feats previously thought impossible - like climbing 8,000m peaks without supplemental oxygen and scaling K2, one of the world's most lethal mountains, in the dead of winter. But beyond these accomplishments, the six Nepalis who died in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak last week also elevated the world's recognition of Nepali mountain guides, or Sherpas, who had previously been seen as mere aides. Among those killed was the decorated British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja , best known for climbing the world's 14 highest peaks, rising above 8,000m (26,246 ft), in just over six months. Their fellow guides say their deaths deal a devastating blow to Nepal's mountaineering community. Purja, 43, also known as Nims, was the leading figure of the 10-member international team up Broad Peak, the world's 12th highest mountain, when the avalanche struck. "Nims of course was iconic and undisputedly amongst the best of his generation," says Ben Ayers, a longtime Everest reporter for Outside Magazine. Kili Pemba Sherpa and Pur Bahadur Gurung, who were also guiding the Broad Peak expedition, were "strong climbers with a solid resume", Ayers said. Kili Pemba, 46, had just earned the coveted mountaineering Grand Slam after completing his last of the 14 highest peaks, also known as eight-thousanders, in early July. "We have to fix our own ropes, cut our steps into the ICE (immigration enforcement agency), and set up camps as we go along," says Nima Rinji Sherpa. "We've seen disasters like this one before, and nothing changed," says expert mountaineer and writer Alan Arnette, who pointed to how an ice avalanche on Everest killed 16 Sherpas in April 2014, and the 11 climbers who died on K2 in 2008 after a massive chunk of ice broke off.

General U.S. News30m ago

The White House Is Keeping Its AI Cybersecurity Framework Secret

The Trump administration has finalized a plan to address the cybersecurity risks posed by increasingly capable artificial intelligence models, a White House official confirmed to WIRED. But at least for now, it’s deliberately keeping the details under wraps, people familiar with the matter tell WIRED. The Trump administration invited staffers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, and other leading AI companies to the White House on Tuesday to share an overview of its new AI oversight framework, the people said. AI developers will have the ability to voluntarily submit new models to the federal government up to 30 days ahead of their public release. The White House will then vet their cyber capabilities according to a classified benchmarking system and share the AI models with federal agencies and trusted corporate partners. But some AI safety advocates tell WIRED that any rules AI companies are being held to should be made public to ensure third-party groups can keep them accountable. “This is far too important an issue to be hidden behind a cloak of secrecy,” says Brad Carson, president of the nonprofit Americans for Responsible Innovation and cofounder of the pro-regulation Public First Action super PAC, which has funding from Anthropic. “This is not a handshake deal with tech companies. If only tech companies know what's in the rulebook, it doesn't work.” The oversight framework stemmed from an executive order President Donald Trump signed earlier this year designed to address the cybersecurity risks of new AI models. The executive order notes that it should not be seen as a “mandatory licensing regime,” but critics have argued that the Trump administration’s opaque process has created just that . “The regulations necessary to prevent the catastrophic risks presented by uncontrolled AI and superintelligence should not be voluntary,” says Conor Leahy, executive director of ControlAI, a nonprofit focused on countering AI risks. “This action admits the danger but leaves the burden of safety in the hands of companies that have an incentive to proceed at full speed with disregard for the well-being of the public.” For the past year and a half, White House officials have been wrestling with how to mitigate the risks of advanced AI without stifling American innovation or ceding ground to China. The saga prompted outcry from tech executives in Silicon Valley, who worried that excessive regulation could lock in a handful of companies as the winners of the AI race . In addition to Nvidia, Hugging Face and Red Hat have agreed to participate in the project, and the Linux Foundation called on other organizations to make their own open-source contributions to it. “As an industry, we want to have this conversation out in the public,” said Justin Boitano, vice president of enterprise AI at Nvidia, in an interview with WIRED.

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Jay Clayton sworn in as US director of national intelligence

From the source

More in General U.S. News

John Thune signals he’ll pursue a 2028 Senate run. Some aren’t sure he’ll follow through.

How a generation of record-setting guides died in a disaster that killed a climbing legend

The White House Is Keeping Its AI Cybersecurity Framework Secret