Vice President JD Vance is adding another national security adviser to his team at a moment when the administration is grappling with mounting global crises.
Vance has tapped Cliff Sims, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump, for the role. Sims will serve alongside Andy Baker, who currently splits his time between the National Security Council and the Office of the Vice President. Together they will expand Vance’s foreign policy operation at a critical juncture for the administration, which is involved in multiple conflicts abroad including the war between Russia and Ukraine and the war with Iran, which has proven difficult to contain.
While an exact date hasn’t been determined, he’s expected to join imminently, according to a person familiar with the matter granted anonymity to discuss it.
“Cliff has been a good friend and advisor on the outside and I’m excited to now have him with me in this new role in the White House,” Vance said in a statement to West Wing Playbook.
Sims has worked closely in recent years with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, most recently serving as chair of the CIA’s external advisory board.
“Cliff served as one of my deputies when I was DNI and I saw firsthand his exceptional judgment and command of the most sensitive national security matters,” Ratcliffe said in a statement to West Wing Playbook. “He has been a fearless advocate for President Trump’s foreign policy, and one of my most trusted advisors.”
Sims coordinated speechwriting for the 2024 Republican National Convention and participated in Trump’s 2024 transition operation.
He has long been close to Vance and maintains ties to some of Trump’s most influential advisers and family members, including Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner.
“Cliff has been with my father since his first campaign in 2016 and knows his America First foreign policy agenda inside and out,” Trump Jr. said. “He’ll be a great asset for JD and the rest of the White House team.”
An Alabama native, Sims served in the first Trump administration as special assistant to the president and director of White House message strategy. He left the administration in 2018 and later published “Team of Vipers,” a tell-all memoir that triggered a public rupture with Trump. The fallout escalated into a legal dispute in 2019 after the Trump campaign sought to enforce a nondisclosure agreement against him.
The two later reconciled, and Sims returned to government to work under Ratcliffe when Ratcliffe served as director of national intelligence during the final stretch of Trump’s first term.
Between administrations, Sims ran a strategic advisory business and chaired Telegraph Creative, an Alabama-based marketing and advertising agency. In 2023, House Speaker Mike Johnson appointed him to a two-year term on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
