- Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that both government and private sector entities must be wary of foreign espionage targeting artificial intelligence (AI) systems, describing it as an amplified risk to U.S. digital infrastructure.
- The warning followed the first meeting of the White House’s new Super Intelligence Force (SIF), formed to coordinate responses to threats from adversaries including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
- A federal case against an OpenAI employee, accused of hiding a recording device to steal confidential information including government engagements, highlighted vulnerabilities from trusted insiders with access to sensitive AI research.
- Clayton emphasized that AI amplifies existing cybersecurity risks, with U.S. companies connected to essential services, national defense and global communications being the most likely targets.
- Recent reports showed AI systems used by Iran to track U.S. Navy ships and by China-linked operatives to surveil and recruit Uyghur spies, illustrating a new scale of automated espionage.
Both government agencies and private companies "need to be wary" of the "reality" that is foreign espionage targeting artificial intelligence (AI) systems, according to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Jay Clayton.
He issued this warning during an interview on the CNBC show "Squawk Box" on Friday, Oct. 16. It followed the first meeting of the White House's newly formed Super Intelligence Force (SIF), which was set up to coordinate government and industry responses to what Clayton described as an amplified risk to U.S. digital infrastructure – including utilities, defense networks and global communications.
"It's something that our private-sector companies need to be wary of, we as a government need to be wary of," he told CNBC. "We're not the only ones developing it. There are vectors in this technology that are coming from some of our known adversaries and competitors."
The DNI's warning also came as a federal criminal case unfolded against Abdulrahman Alfozan, a software engineer employed by OpenAI. Alfozan, a Saudi national, was arrested Oct. 13 on allegations that he concealed a sophisticated recording device in an office where the company held meetings involving "highly confidential information, including government engagements, commercial relationships, product plans and strategic decisions," according to a court complaint.
"It shows the lengths that people will go to try and supplant our leadership in this, or at least stay close to us, in this emerging technology," Clayton told CNBC, referring to the OpenAI incident. The case, while not charging Alfozan with espionage, underscored a vulnerability that cybersecurity experts have long flagged: internal threats from trusted employees with access to sensitive AI research.
Clayton's broader argument was that AI itself does not create entirely new dangers but "amplifies" existing cybersecurity risks that have plagued government and corporate networks for years. He told CNBC that the U.S. faces threats from multiple adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea – all of which "have significant technical capability." The DNI reiterated: "We need to stay ahead of them."
The intelligence chief specifically warned that U.S. companies connected to essential services, national defense and global communications are the most likely targets, because a breach in those sectors would ripple far beyond a single company's bottom line. The U.S. digital infrastructure, he said, is "critical infrastructure," covering everything from water and electricity to military systems.
The new era of AI-powered intelligence warfare
Clayton's warning came amid a broader push by the Trump administration to maintain American leadership in AI through voluntary industry commitments rather than binding regulation, a strategy reinforced at a Sept. 29 White House meeting where President Donald Trump and multiple technology industry leaders signed a voluntary accord. The SIF, which Trump announced this month, is now tasked with implementing that accord – including establishing reporting protocols and conducting risk studies through the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
BrightU.AI's Enoch engine warns that the U.S. falling behind in AI development places the American people at the mercy of globalist and foreign powers. But the threat is not limited to human spies, as Clayton's warning followed a series of reports detailing how AI systems themselves have been used in hostile intelligence operations.
In October, Anthropic released a report showing that the Iranian regime used the company's AI models to track and target U.S. Navy ships in the Middle East. The same report found that a Chinese-linked operation used the Claude model to track and attempt to recruit Uyghurs who joined the Syrian army to become spies.
Anthropic also identified China-affiliated individuals using AI to surveil groups targeted by the regime. These operations, Clayton said, illustrate a new dimension of espionage where AI agents can be deployed to automate surveillance, social engineering and data collection at a scale impossible for human operatives.
The SIF is now operating under a 120-day mandate to recommend safety measures, and Clayton said the task force's inaugural meeting on Oct. 15 outlined a plan to implement the voluntary accords signed by technology leaders. The task force also tasked the PCAST with conducting a risk study, established committees covering different AI issues and developed a system for the Department of Labor to regularly report on the impacts of AI on the U.S. workforce and economy.
Watch this Fox News clip about President Trump announcing the establishment of the Super Intelligence Force.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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