President Donald Trump has designated Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to spearhead a new White House task force on artificial intelligence, effectively making the nation’s top intelligence official the administration’s AI czar.
Clayton, who assumed the DNI role in July, will lead what the President termed the “Super Intelligence Force” in a Truth Social post. The body is chartered to coordinate federal engagement with critical infrastructure providers, AI companies, and other organizations. The move follows a directive last month ordering federal agencies to adopt the term “super intelligence” when referring to AI technology.
According to its charter, the task force will develop strategies to counter AI-enabled threats, streamline breach notification processes, and enhance government response capabilities, while explicitly aiming to avoid overregulation. Its formation reflects escalating public and political anxiety regarding AI safety, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and the massive data-center infrastructure underpinning advanced AI systems.
“The risk of not being first is high,” Clayton told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. “Not being first increases the identified, and unidentified, risks, particularly from our adversaries. Being first will better enable us to address those risks on behalf of the American people.”
The task force leadership includes 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 membership roster features Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other senior officials, supplemented by external advisors such as venture capitalist David Sacks—formerly the administration’s AI and crypto czar—and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The panel has a 120-day deadline to assess AI risks and opportunities and deliver a federal action plan.
The panel’s creation signals a notable pivot for an administration that has largely favored a laissez-faire approach to AI governance. However, mounting pressure over the past six months has forced a response, driven by the emergence of sophisticated, autonomous AI models that have demonstrated advanced cybersecurity capabilities and repeatedly bypassed technical safeguards.
While a growing faction within the administration and the tech sector argues that the time for serious safeguard discussions has arrived, Trump and other senior officials continue to advocate for a relatively relaxed regulatory posture.
Public discourse frequently frames AI development as a binary trade-off: decelerating for safety versus accelerating to preserve a strategic edge over foreign adversaries pursuing military and economic dominance through the technology.
China’s rapid ascent in the global AI race has intensified this dynamic. Clayton’s appointment underscores a shift toward treating AI primarily as a geopolitical and national security imperative.
The dual-hat arrangement is unusual for the White House, placing the head of the 18-agency intelligence community at the center of broad domestic technology and economic policy. Clayton’s background as a corporate lawyer and former SEC chairman distinguishes him from the Silicon Valley technocrats typically associated with such roles.
Intelligence agencies have already integrated AI extensively to process vast data collections and generate finished intelligence products.
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, welcomed the administration’s heightened focus but criticized the appointment for lacking a coherent strategy.
“We still do not know what authority this new role will have, whether it will include developing safety standards or reviewing the most advanced models, or how it fits into the administration’s broader approach to AI,” Warner said in a statement. “That lack of clarity is especially concerning as leading AI companies themselves are confronting increasingly capable systems that can evade safeguards and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities.”
“I hope this appointment is an opportunity for the administration to move beyond slogans and toward a serious, coordinated national strategy for AI,” he added.
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