How to Write the AI Action Plan

Sep 10, 2025

Dean Ball, a former senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, discusses the intricacies of crafting the AI Action Plan. He highlights the challenges of interagency cooperation and the role of political support in implementing federal AI strategies. The conversation delves into Republican perspectives on AI safety and the impact of governance dynamics within the Trump administration. Ball also explores the complexities of navigating information flow in government and the urgent need for comprehensive policies in the evolving tech landscape.

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ADVICE

Hold The Pen To Shape Policy

Hold the pen on interagency documents: the drafter often adjudicates conflicts and shapes outcomes.
Own the paper to exercise influence in cross-agency disputes.

ANECDOTE

NSC Reorg Shifted Tech Work To OSTP

A June NSC reorganization shifted many tech-related processes by default to OSTP.
That transfer made OSTP more powerful inside the White House but sometimes weaker across the interagency.

INSIGHT

Smaller Teams Can Be More Effective

Smaller White House teams can outperform larger ones when they avoid turf wars and focus execution.
More staff can create internal competition that slows outcomes.

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The full transcript for this conversation is at www.statecraft.pub.

When I started this podcast a couple years ago, the idea was more constrained than it is today. We wanted to do exit interviews with civil servants, who were newly free to speak about their experiences and their learnings. The project has expanded: we talk to political scientists, economists, DC wonks, elected officials and people currently in government. But the core value of this project is in that original idea of getting a hold of people as they're leaving the government, pinning them to the wall, and making them reveal their secrets.

Today's guest is in that mold. His name is Dean Ball. If you follow AI policy, you already know who he is. Until a couple of weeks ago, Dean was a senior policy advisor for artificial intelligence and emerging technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Dean and I go back a little while. Most notably, we’ve serve together on one of the most dominant trivia teams DC has seen. But that's not why Dean's important. Dean's had a whirlwind tour over the past few months in the federal government. During that time, he was the organizing author of the Administration's AI Action Plan, a comprehensive roadmap from the White House on federal AI policy.

Today, we caught up to talk about that Action Plan, what it takes to write a strategy document for the federal government, and the challenges of implementing that strategy in the face of political, personal, and bureaucratic opposition.

I've said in the past that Dean thinks more clearly about the near-term future than most people. I still think that's true, though I don't agree with him on everything here. He's an incredibly sharp thinker and I benefit from talking to him.

We discuss:

* How to gain influence in the White House

* Navigating the interagency process efficiently

* Whether the deep state is real

* The AI Action Plan

* How to implement change across the federal government

* The complexities of export controls on AI Chips

* Why Dean left the White House after six months

Thanks to Harry Fletcher-Wood for his transcript edits, and to Katerina Barton for her audio edits.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub