Saif is the Founding Director of the Center for Technology & Statecraft (CTS). He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Progress (IFP).
Saif served as Counselor for Critical and Emerging Technologies to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and as her principal advisor and coordinator on AI policy from 2023 to 2025. His work covered AI innovation and investment, intellectual property, open-weight models, export controls, international AI policy, and AI standards and evaluation including designing and co-founding what is now the US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI).
Saif served in the White House as Director for Technology and National Security at the National Security Council from 2021 to 2023. In this role, he coordinated US policy on semiconductors, AI, and quantum technologies. His work included designing and coordinating export controls on AI chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment and in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as strategic planning for the CHIPS Act to revitalize US semiconductor manufacturing and R&D.
Saif was also a Bipartisan Senior Advisor to the US House Select Committee on the CCP, a Visiting Professor of the Practice at the University of Maryland Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), and a Research Fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), where he published widely-cited policy research on semiconductor supply chains and AI chips.
Saif has testified before the Senate and the House on AI, semiconductors, and China policy and also served as the US national representative on the international expert advisory panel for the International AI Safety Report.
Saif also has experience as an IP lawyer in the technology industry and holds a JD from The Ohio State University and a BS and an MA in physics from Wayne State University.
Saif served as Counselor for Critical and Emerging Technologies to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and as her principal advisor and coordinator on AI policy from 2023 to 2025. His work covered AI innovation and investment, intellectual property, open-weight models, export controls, international AI policy, and AI standards and evaluation including designing and co-founding what is now the US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI).
Saif served in the White House as Director for Technology and National Security at the National Security Council from 2021 to 2023. In this role, he coordinated US policy on semiconductors, AI, and quantum technologies. His work included designing and coordinating export controls on AI chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment and in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as strategic planning for the CHIPS Act to revitalize US semiconductor manufacturing and R&D.
Saif was also a Bipartisan Senior Advisor to the US House Select Committee on the CCP, a Visiting Professor of the Practice at the University of Maryland Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), and a Research Fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), where he published widely-cited policy research on semiconductor supply chains and AI chips.
Saif has testified before the Senate and the House on AI, semiconductors, and China policy and also served as the US national representative on the international expert advisory panel for the International AI Safety Report.
Saif also has experience as an IP lawyer in the technology industry and holds a JD from The Ohio State University and a BS and an MA in physics from Wayne State University.