Exclusive: Classified Memo Tells Intelligence Analysts to Keep Trump's Daily Brief Short

[Native]

Source: Mother Jones

The memo sent to certain analysts within the intelligence community notes that the commander in chief's daily briefing book typically contains reports on only three topics, typically no more than one page each.

The guidance states that analysts should only include facts that support their analyses, and it explains that topics presented in the PDB will not be covered from different perspectives in separate briefings. That means that dissenting or conflicting views might not be presented to Trump. Obama's PDB did include dissenting information, when appropriate, according to a former top CIA official with direct knowledge of the PDB.

"These issues about the overall length of the book as well as whether there are going to be conflicting interpretationsthat unfortunately sounds likebowing to the reality of a president with a short attention span and little ability to deal with ambiguities," says Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA official who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Georgetown University.

In comparison to Trump's three-page PDB, the former senior CIA official who served during the Obama administration estimates the former president's daily brief typically ranged from 12 to 14 pages, and it contained videos, maps, charts, and interactive features. Obama tended to read it on a tablet. Historically, the documentwhich relays key intelligence and national security informationhas averaged six to eight pages, according to David Priess, author of The President's Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America's Presidents From Kennedy to Obama.



Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/classified-memo-tells-intelligence-analysts-keep-trumps-daily-brief-short

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So the take-away to me appears to be that Trump, when it comes to our nation's security, can't be bothered to read an additional 3 to 9 pages much less entertain any dissenting viewpoints?

[msanthrope]

1. There will be a PDB that will make August 6th, 2001's PDB seem like small potatoes. nt

[mpcamb]

19. what's pdb?

[msanthrope]

20. Jesus. nt

[cstanleytech]

21. Its a new file format to replace the old PDF format with new embedded tracking so that any leaks

can be traced back to whoever leaked it /deadpan

[mpcamb]

22. Thanks, I'm a medical guy and it clicked for 'Protein Data Bank'.

[tblue37]

24. President's Daily Briefing--from the intelligence community. nt

[lapfog_1]

2. ADHD or somewhere on the autism spectrum

and a 5th-grade reading comprehension level

[Botany]

3. Because Trump can't read.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. That is what I thought until I saw him read remarks when Trudeau was here.

They did that presser together.
Trump appeared to read the Greetings and etc.
but
it was in a monotone and he would pause in the middle of some sentences. Very robot like.
sounded like a 10 year old reciting something in school.
Very striking.
Then again he might have been repeating what someone was saying in to that ear piece he wears....hear a few words, repeat them,
pause to hear a few more words, etc.

Then Trudeau spoke off the cuff in English and French. That had to piss Trump off.

[Dave Starsky]

4. Why don't they just skip the fucking thing?

He never goes anyway. And anything you could tell him would a) not be understood, b) be ignored, and c) be relayed directly to Moscow.

[lagomorph777]

16. Well, he gets his daily briefing from Putin - why bother with an extra one?

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. I honestly don't think he has the capacity

to process complex information, or multi-syllabic words for that matter.

[not fooled]

18. That's basically

what the guy who ghost-wrote Art of the Deal--and hence spent a considerable amount of time around dump, gathering material--said about him: no attention span and no ability to process complex information. Also a facile and nonstop liar.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. He wouldn't understand

or care what he was looking at on the 1-pagers anyway.

Then they will eventually whine that people were "keeping info from them".

[Zoider]

8. "... or care"

I think that's the crux of it: he doesn't really care about anything except his own ego.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Yup.

[gopiscrap]

17. welcome to DU

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. And please write on a 4th grade reading level n/t

[otohara]

9. His Mind Is On His Next Tweet(s)

unlike other pols who have staff to bang those out - Twitler does his own...and it shows.

[dchill]

10. Dammit! This is another LEAK!

Isn't it?

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Make it look like a Fox News report, and then sneak it into his daily cable schedule

since he has so much more time for that.

[brooklynite]

13. Stick figures?

[joshcryer]

14. It appears Trump is not just Putin's puppet.

[jeanmarc]

23. King Don needs time to watch more television

He can't be bothered with facts and more importantly, words.

Words are tedious and that's for other people.

So if you want him to get this information, what is needed is a production of a tv show with all the information, every day.

[ck4829]

25. K&R