WASHINGTON — For more than 60 years, U.S. presidents have spent time every day — usually in the morning — with the President’s Daily Brief.
In an interview broadcast Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump made clear that he did not intend to extend that practice, saying that he would hand the task to his vice president, Mike Pence, unless there were major developments that warranted his attention.
“You know, I’m, like, a smart person,” he said. “I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”
The pronouncement prompted criticism that the president-elect was taking himself out of the loop and losing a chance to quiz his briefers on inconsistencies and questions of fact or interpretation that form the basis for some of the most important decisions a president makes.
— A Broad View of U.S. Intelligence
Just what is this brief that is so highly secretive that its circulation beyond a few trusted advisers could endanger U.S. interests abroad?
The President’s Daily Brief is a compilation of high-level intelligence findings that is put together overnight by a team working out of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a few miles from the CIA’s offices in Virginia.
— A Varied Format
It is tailored to meet each president’s preferences. Long presented on paper, the daily brief is now often compiled on a secure tablet computer that lets the president page through underlying specifics.
During the administration of George W. Bush, the briefing included a complex “threat matrix” that evaluated the potential for terrorist threats around the world; the vulnerabilities of U.S. troops, expatriates and travelers; and evidence of any emerging nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
At times, it would include a “deep dive” into a specific question that a president may have asked or that briefers believed he needed to know, such as the early August 2001 briefing Bush received at his Texas ranch reporting that Osama bin Laden was “determined” to strike the United States.
Under President Barack Obama, the brief has taken on some new topics and different forms, including a periodic update on cyberthreats against the United States.
— Other Recipients
Pence’s involvement would not be unusual. In recent administrations, the vice president has frequently sat in on the meetings that often accompany the brief’s delivery, as have the president’s national security adviser, homeland security chief and, at times, the director of national intelligence. But the vice president usually does so in the Oval Office, with the president.
— An Evolving Assessment
While there is certainly some degree of repetition in the daily brief, those who have read it regularly say that its value is often found in seeing how assessments change over time, and in being able to ask about the evidence on which those changing evaluations were based. And of course, they contain updated information as new threats emerge around the world.