CISA to Issue AI Executive Order Directive This Week as OpenAI's Altman Meets With Lawmakers

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency plans to release a binding operational directive to federal agencies by the end of this week, detailing the specific steps required to implement President Donald Trump's artificial intelligence executive order, CISA Acting Director Nick Andersen said Wednesday.

Andersen made the remarks at the TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore, outlining a dual mandate: ensuring agencies act on the order's requirements while also harnessing AI as a defensive cybersecurity tool.

The directive will focus in part on "vulnerability alleviation and vulnerability management," Andersen said. CISA also intends to roll out "specific artificial intelligence access" to partners in the coming days, he added.

Trump signed the executive order on Tuesday. The order asks AI companies to voluntarily submit their models to the government for testing up to 30 days before public release — a reduction from the 90-day window included in an earlier version of the order that was scrapped amid internal administration disagreements and objections raised by former AI and crypto czar David Sacks.

CISA will also play a central role in standing up the "cyber clearinghouse" envisioned in the order, Andersen said, and the agency will independently vet AI models it gains access to.

Andersen signaled that foundational IT infrastructure failures represent a persistent vulnerability, separate from any AI-specific risk. "The larger problem we're having to address here is we kick the can down the road in a fairly significant way with our IT infrastructure," he said. "We have end of life limited service devices that are operating within our environments… Our adversaries can reach in and touch us."

On the same day, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman traveled to Washington for a series of meetings with Trump administration officials at the White House and with members of both parties on Capitol Hill, according to an OpenAI spokesperson.

Altman sat down with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., their representatives confirmed. Johnson told CNBC the session was a "very good, productive meeting," adding that discussions covered the latest developments in AI and what a "light touch" regulatory framework might look like to "prevent some of the harms that could come from it."

Altman has been publicly supportive of the executive order. "The U.S. should lead on AI by continuing to develop the very best models, making sure they're safe, and getting cyber tools into the hands of trusted defenders," Altman wrote on X. "The new EO gets the balance right."

OpenAI separately published a policy blueprint on Wednesday outlining recommendations for a national AI safety framework. The company called on the U.S. government to strengthen the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, build on state-level regulatory progress, and develop a broader resilience plan addressing public safety and national security challenges.

In a blog post published Monday, OpenAI said it has not donated to any political candidates or campaigns and has not started or funded political action committees, pledging to advocate for AI policy "transparently" and in its own name. "We support thoughtful regulation, rigorous testing of powerful AI systems, strong safety standards, public accountability, and broad access to AI's benefits," the company said.

Altman's Capitol Hill visit is his latest in a series of high-profile Washington appearances. He met with lawmakers in March following OpenAI's Pentagon deal and attended Trump's inauguration last year.

With CISA's binding directive imminent and the voluntary pre-release testing window now codified — however narrowly — the coming weeks will test whether the administration's framework can translate a thin executive order into concrete federal action, and whether leading AI developers will follow through on their stated willingness to cooperate.

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