Commissioner Cliff Sims served as Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Strategy and Communications, helping to oversee the 18 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community (IC) and playing an integral role in shifting the IC's funding and focus toward the threat of a rising and adversarial China. Sims was previously Special Assistant to the President and Director of White House Message Strategy. He has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC, and his opinions on national security, foreign policy, and current events have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The National Interest, and numerous other publications. He is also a Senior Fellow in the America First Policy Institute's Center for American Security. Commissioner Sims graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Alabama with a degree in Political Science and received an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Commissioner Sims was appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson for a term expiring December 31, 2025.