WASHINGTON, DC – October 4, 2026 (STL.News) United States President Donald Trump announced Sunday the creation of a federal “Super Intelligence Force,” appointing Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead a new task force coordinating the federal government’s approach to artificial intelligence.
Trump announced the Super Intelligence Force, or SIF, five days after signing an executive order directing executive-branch agencies to use the terms “Super Intelligence” and “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in certain official government communications and non-statutory documents.
The task force is expected to examine the risks and opportunities of increasingly powerful AI systems while considering the role the federal government should play as the technology develops.
Trump said the SIF would coordinate federal efforts to maintain U.S. leadership in the technology while protecting American interests.
“The Super Intelligence Force is tasked with coordinating the effort of the Federal Government to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence,” Trump said in announcing the initiative Sunday.
The president said the group would engage with consumers, public-interest organizations, religious groups, critical-infrastructure providers and technology companies.
The task force will report to Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Jay Clayton to Lead Federal AI Task Force
Clayton, who was sworn in as the ninth director of national intelligence on Aug. 3, will lead the Super Intelligence Force.
As DNI, Clayton heads the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as the president’s principal intelligence adviser.
Clayton previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first administration.
Reuters has described Clayton as Trump’s new AI czar, an informal description of his expanded role overseeing the administration’s AI initiative.
Other officials identified as task force leaders include Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Pentagon technology official Emil Michael, and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor.
Their participation brings officials responsible for intelligence, consumer protection, defense technology and the federal workforce into the administration’s coordinated AI policy effort.
Task Force Given 120 Days for Report
The Super Intelligence Force has 120 days to examine AI-related risks and opportunities and recommend the role the federal government should play, according to Reuters’ reporting on Clayton and the task force.
The group is also expected to examine existing mechanisms for reporting AI-related breaches, hacks and other incidents and consider how the federal government could improve its response using existing authorities.
Clayton has emphasized the administration’s concern that the United States maintain its technological advantage as countries compete to develop increasingly sophisticated AI systems.
“The risk of not being first is high,” Clayton said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported.
The task force arrives amid an intensifying debate over how the United States should address potential AI risks without slowing technological development or weakening its position against international competitors.
Trump Orders ‘Super Intelligence’ Terminology
The terminology around the announcement matters.
Trump signed Executive Order 14434, titled “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,” on Sept. 29.
The order directs executive departments and agencies, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official correspondence, websites, public communications, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory executive-branch materials.
However, the administration’s use of “Super Intelligence” does not currently establish a new technical category of artificial intelligence.
For purposes of the executive order, “Super Intelligence” refers to technologies and systems covered by the existing federal statutory definition of artificial intelligence.
The terminology therefore should not be interpreted as an announcement that the federal government or private industry has developed a technologically distinct form of superhuman artificial intelligence.
The executive order also directs the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to submit proposed legislative language within 60 days establishing a possible federal definition of “Super Intelligence.”
That proposal is expected to address whether the definition should modify, expand or replace the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence.
SIF Is a Task Force, Not a New Intelligence Agency
Despite its name and Clayton’s position as director of national intelligence, the Super Intelligence Force is not a newly established U.S. intelligence agency.
Available government documents and independent reporting describe the SIF as a federal task force coordinating government policy and engagement involving AI.
Trump’s Sept. 29 executive order does not establish another intelligence agency or give a new organization independent law-enforcement authority.
The order specifically states that it does not impair or otherwise affect authority already granted by law to executive departments, agencies or their leaders.
Trump’s announcement of the SIF also did not establish broad independent enforcement or regulatory powers for the task force.
That distinction is important because the group’s name and its leadership by the nation’s director of national intelligence could otherwise create the impression that the administration established another intelligence service.
Based on information released by the administration and independently reported as of Sunday, the SIF is an interagency task force focused on federal AI policy, coordination and recommendations.
Announcement Follows White House AI Accord
Creation of the Super Intelligence Force follows a White House meeting involving executives from several major technology and AI companies.
Trump and technology executives participated in what the administration calls the “White House Accord on Super Intelligence.”
Companies represented in the initiative included Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, and xAI.
The accord calls for participating companies to establish safeguards around advanced AI systems, including internal controls and oversight mechanisms.
Trump described the commitments as “morally binding.”
The agreement itself does not create the same enforcement structure as a federal statute or formal regulation, making the federal government’s longer-term regulatory approach one of the significant questions facing Clayton’s task force.
National Security Role Expands in Federal AI Policy
Putting the director of national intelligence in charge of the SIF places one of the federal government’s highest-ranking national-security officials at the center of the administration’s AI initiative.
The director of national intelligence oversees the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as the president’s principal intelligence adviser.
Artificial intelligence already plays an important role in national-security policy, including cybersecurity, military technology, intelligence analysis, critical infrastructure and strategic competition with foreign governments.
Clayton’s appointment therefore connects the administration’s broader AI policy initiative directly with the country’s intelligence and national-security establishment.
At the same time, the participation of officials from the FTC, Pentagon and OPM broadens the task force beyond intelligence matters.
The administration has not yet publicly detailed all of the SIF’s operating procedures or identified independent regulatory powers belonging specifically to the task force.
Its first major policy review, however, has a deadline.
Clayton and the Super Intelligence Force have 120 days to assess AI’s risks and opportunities and recommend the federal government’s role.
That report could provide the clearest indication yet of how the Trump administration intends to approach artificial intelligence — now officially referred to throughout much of the executive branch as “Super Intelligence” — as the technology becomes increasingly important to the economy, national security, and global technological competition.
