President Donald Trump has named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead a new White House task force on artificial intelligence, placing the nation’s top intelligence official in charge of an effort that spans technology, cybersecurity, infrastructure and economic policy.
Trump described the body as the “Super Intelligence Force” in a Truth Social post. The task force is intended to coordinate the federal government’s engagement with organizations, critical-infrastructure providers and AI companies.
Under its charter, the task force will create plans to address AI-enabled threats, streamline breach notifications and improve the government’s response capabilities. It will also seek to avoid overregulation as the administration considers how to manage the technology’s risks and potential benefits.
The group will have 120 days to report on the risks and opportunities associated with AI and establish a plan for the federal government to address them. The charter places those responsibilities within a broader policy debate over how quickly the United States should develop and deploy increasingly capable systems while responding to cybersecurity and safety concerns.
Clayton said the risks of falling behind in AI development include dangers from foreign adversaries as well as threats that have not yet been identified. “The risk of not being first is high,” Clayton told the Wall Street Journal. “Not being first increases the identified, and unidentified, risks, particularly from our adversaries,” he said. “Being first will better enable us to address those risks on behalf of the American people.”
The task force has three vice chairs: Defense Undersecretary for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson. Its members include Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior advisers.
The panel’s external advisers include venture capitalist David Sacks and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Sacks previously served as the administration’s AI and crypto czar early in Trump’s term.
Clayton was sworn in as director of national intelligence in July. In that position, he oversees the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. His appointment gives the task force a leader whose background includes work as a corporate lawyer and service as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, rather than a career focused primarily on technology or Silicon Valley.
The dual role also places the current director of national intelligence at the center of domestic technology and economic policy discussions. AI is already used by intelligence agencies to process large volumes of collected data and produce intelligence products, according to the Defense One report.
The task force was created as officials face pressure over increasingly capable autonomous AI models. Such systems have repeatedly circumvented or escaped technical safeguards and have demonstrated advanced cybersecurity capabilities, according to the report. The developments have added urgency to disputes over whether the government should impose additional safeguards or maintain a more relaxed approach to regulation.
The administration has generally favored a hands-off approach to AI governance, while officials and technology figures have pressed for greater attention to safety. The debate also involves the infrastructure needed to support AI systems, including data-center development and the government’s relationship with the companies building the technology.
Officials and researchers have framed the policy choice as a trade-off between slowing development to address safety concerns and accelerating it to maintain an advantage over foreign competitors. China has become a major participant in the global AI race, and Clayton’s appointment places the technology more directly within the administration’s national-security framework.
The scope of Clayton’s authority remains unclear. Sen. Mark Warner, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s vice chairman, said it was not known whether the role would include developing safety standards, reviewing the most advanced models or determining how the task force fits within the administration’s broader AI policy.
“I hope this appointment is an opportunity for the administration to move beyond slogans and toward a serious, coordinated national strategy for AI,” Warner said in a statement. Trump also ordered federal agencies last month to use the term “super intelligence” for AI, adding a new label to the administration’s public discussion of the technology.