Taiwan’s de facto U.S. ambassador, Alexander Yui, met privately this month in Washington with members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), a previously low-profile group that officials say has become an influential node in President Trump’s White House.
The meeting was informal and arranged through a mutual contact, not an official PIAB session, though it marked one of the highest-level Taiwan-U.S. contacts of Trump’s second term. National security officials say the encounter signals the board’s growing influence in policymaking.
PIAB members attending included chair Devin Nunes, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, and Amaryllis Fox, deputy director of national intelligence. Several sources noted the board is more active and visible than during Trump’s first term, meeting regularly and serving as a direct channel to the president. Some former NSC staffers have even been approached about joining PIAB, and foreign diplomats have begun consulting its members for national security insights.
Appointed by the president, PIAB members are unpaid but hold security clearances. Unlike Trump’s first term, when a chair was named late, he appointed Nunes as chair before inauguration and added 11 more members in February, reflecting the board’s elevated role in the current administration.
