Trump Taps Spy Chief Jay Clayton to Lead a New 'Super Intelligence Force'

The intelligence director shares the AI task force with the FTC chair and two other officials, and it answers directly to Trump.

President Trump created a Super Intelligence Force on Sunday to coordinate federal work on artificial intelligence and named his spy chief, Jay Clayton, to lead it.

Clayton, the director of national intelligence, won't run it alone. In a Truth Social post at 8:23 a.m. Eastern time, Trump listed him first among four leaders. The others are Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson; Emil Michael, the War Department's under secretary for research and engineering and its chief technology officer; and Scott Kupor, who runs the Office of Personnel Management. The whole group reports to two people: Trump and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff.

The post gives the force two jobs. It's meant to steer the government's push "to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet," Trump wrote. It's also supposed to be Washington's point of contact for consumers, advocacy and faith groups, the companies that run critical infrastructure, and the AI companies themselves.

The clock is short. The force has 120 days to study AI's risks and opportunities and recommend how much of a role the federal government should take in overseeing it, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a White House official. WION, the Indian news channel, carried the Journal's account.

Trump's post doesn't mention a budget, a staff or an executive order. It also doesn't say whether Clayton outranks the other three leaders, or when those 120 days began.

Sunday's announcement had been building for weeks. Trump said in September that he'd create an AI force and name a new AI czar, but he offered little about what the force would actually do, Axios reported. Then on Tuesday, Sept. 29, he and House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted AI executives at the White House, where the companies signed on to voluntary safety standards that Trump called "morally binding," according to WION. Sunday's post calls that deal the White House Accord on Super Intelligence. Clayton was at the lunch, Axios reported.

The pick puts a security official in charge of a technology the president has played down. Trump has said he wants regulation kept light, and he has dismissed fears that AI could threaten humanity as a hoax, according to Axios. Clayton, in a recent appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box," described super intelligence as a national security matter, though he said a pause in American development wouldn't be a smart strategy.

Clayton came to the intelligence job from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, where he led the Southern District of New York. Trump elevated him after Tulsi Gabbard resigned as director of national intelligence in May, and the Senate confirmed him along party lines, with no Democratic votes, Axios reported.

He laid out his view of AI at his July 15 confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. "When something is both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it," Clayton said there, Axios reported.

Source: thehill.com.

Source: trumpstruth.org, retrieved October 4, 2026. Other sources: wionews.com, axios.com.