Trump Administration Sets Up Task Force to Assess AI-Related Threats

The Trump administration has given the newly formed "Super Intelligence Force" broad latitude to decide how the tech sector and the federal government should respond to threats that rapidly advancing AI poses to national security and civil liberties. That is according to a charter obtained by POLITICO, whose authenticity was confirmed by three people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the charter's details.

Mandate

The task force is to define measures that strengthen the ability of both government and the private sector to prepare for and respond to threats to the homeland and the American people. It will also write a report on AI risks, focusing on potential threats to civil liberties, cybersecurity, standards for advanced models and the consequences of possible overregulation.

The work will cover financial services, energy infrastructure, transport, agriculture and emergency services. The charter singles out biosecurity and threats to water supplies as areas of particular risk. The group will also review the protocols and mechanisms currently in place for AI labs to report security breaches, hacks and jailbreaks to the government, and recommend ways to improve the government's response.

Leadership and members

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton will lead the group as part of his new role as the administration's AI point person. Under Secretary of Defense Emil Michael, Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor and Federal Trade Commission chair Andrew Ferguson will serve as vice chairs. Officials from federal bodies such as the NSA and the Department of Health and Human Services will take part. Vice President JD Vance and chief of staff Susie Wiles will be closely involved. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former AI adviser David Sacks will offer advice on national security and technology respectively.

The task force will operate for 120 days, though Wiles can extend its activities or transfer its tasks to another agency.

Context

The charter describes AI as both an amplifier and a catalyst of risks and opportunities, yet ultimately places responsibility for those risks on the labs developing advanced models. The federal government's role, it says, is to understand this period of change and enforce the nation's laws.

The announcement caught both Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill off guard. It comes as Anthropic and OpenAI have disclosed cybersecurity incidents tied to new models with advanced hacking capabilities, prompting some industry leaders and lawmakers to call for a possible slowdown in the technology's development.