Three White House officials with direct knowledge of the matter allege that Ball has exaggerated his role on that project. The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the situation, described Ball as a “junior-to-mid-level policy analyst” whose ideas were regularly ignored by decision-makers – and say he never obtained a security clearance, which is needed to participate in high-level discussions.
One of the officials said it was the “most ludicrous assertion imaginable” that Ball played a senior role in crafting the AI Action Plan.
“Everyone who was actually involved in architecting it is way too nice to say it in frank terms,” the official said. “He was at best a nuisance and at worst irrelevant.”
