Alabama native and Yellowhammer News founder Cliff Sims has been tapped as Vice President JD Vance’s principal national security and foreign policy adviser, Politico reports.
Sims’ latest move adds another chapter in a career that has taken the Enterprise native from Alabama politics to the highest levels of the U.S. national security apparatus.
“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 told Politico.
Sims will serve alongside Andy Baker in an expanded foreign policy operation for the vice president at a moment when the administration is managing multiple conflicts abroad, including the wars involving Russia and Ukraine and Iran.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, under whom Sims served as Deputy Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump administration, vouched for his credentials.
“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. “He has been a fearless advocate for President Trump’s foreign policy, and one of my most trusted advisors.”
Donald Trump Jr. also praised the pick, pointing to Sims’ longevity in Trumpworld.
“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.”
Sims grew up in Enterprise, the son and grandson of Baptist ministers. He played point guard at Enterprise-Ozark Community College and earned a degree from the University of Alabama, where he chaired the College Republicans.
In 2011, he founded Yellowhammer News and built it into Alabama’s most influential conservative media operations.
He left Yellowhammer to join Trump’s 2016 campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Message Strategy. After departing in 2018, Sims published “Team of Vipers,” a bestselling memoir that triggered a public split with Trump and a legal dispute over a nondisclosure agreement.
The two later reconciled, and Trump tapped Sims to lead messaging and speechwriting for the 2020 Republican National Convention before appointing him to the intelligence community under Ratcliffe.
Between administrations, Sims returned to Alabama and led Telegraph Creative, a Birmingham-based marketing and advertising agency.
House Speaker Mike Johnson appointed him to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2023.
Sims then served as executive director of the 2024-2025 Trump Transition before chairing the CIA’s external advisory board under Ratcliffe during Trump’s second term.
Sawyer Knowles is a capitol reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
