Identification carried by current leader (9)
I believe the answer is:
president
'leader' is the definition.
(president is a kind of leader)
'identification carried by current' is the wordplay.
'identification' becomes 'id'.
'carried by' is an insertion indicator.
'current' becomes 'present' ('present' can be similar in meaning to 'current'**).
'id' inserted within 'present' is 'PRESIDENT'.
(Other definitions for president that I've seen before include "Trump, perhaps" , "top job" , "authority figure" , "Head of US company - tried pens (anag)" , "Lincoln, for example" .)