Senate confirms Jay Clayton as Trump’s next intelligence chiefWashington — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies in a party-line vote that could be the key to unlock a path forward on a key surveillance authority that lapsed more than six weeks ago. The Senate voted 51 to 47 to install Clayton as director of national intelligence. The appointment led Democrats to walk away from a bipartisan deal to reauthorize a warrantless spy tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “I hope this will encourage my colleagues to stop blocking reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said Monday on the Senate floor. Even with Clayton confirmed, an extension of the spy statute is likely to remain lapsed for a while longer.