President Donald Trump has attended only 12 sessions of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) since taking office in January 2017. This statistic reflects a significant departure from historic norms among U.S. presidents. For years, they have used these briefings to get important national security information. Today, the PDB is hand delivered in paper or on tablet five days a week directly to the president and national security advisors. Unfortunately, since then, Trump’s engagement in these sessions has largely fallen off.
During the first three months of his presidency, Trump managed an average of 2.5 such briefings per week. Then his attendance dropped to only two in-person briefings a month, for January, February and March. By April and May, he came to a more stable arrangement of once a week. Despite this limited attendance, reports indicate that Trump maintains frequent communication with his intelligence chiefs to stay informed about pressing global issues.
Though short-lived, the recent departure of national security adviser Mike Waltz boosted the stakes and helped deepen the cuts in Trump’s national security team. Waltz had supposedly been on thin ice with other administration officials for quite a while. Trump’s approach to receiving intelligence has drawn criticism, particularly regarding his lack of engagement with the accompanying briefing documents prepared by intelligence analysts.
Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House said they want to stress the president’s continued access to intelligence.
“The entire intelligence community actively informs President Trump in real time about critical national security developments.” – Davis Ingle
Indifference to briefings Trump may neglect the traditional PDB briefings. What he does get is timely, real-time strategic updates on global flashpoints as they continue to emerge. This approach allows him to get intel from more unofficial sources. He sometimes calls in the morning or afternoon to people like National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe and other officials.
“He’s calling people all day. If he wants an update on some of these things, he’ll call Ratcliffe, Rubio, Witkoff, Waltz, kind of in an ad-hoc fashion throughout the day, receiving this stuff.” – Source familiar with Trump’s briefing approach
Critics warn that the President’s unorthodox approach is a dangerous gamble. Commenting on his briefing habits, Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) sounded alarms about what that could mean under Trump.
“It’s sadly clear that President Trump doesn’t value the expertise of and dangerous work performed by our intelligence professionals each and every day, and unfortunately, it leaves the American people increasingly vulnerable to threats we ought to see coming.” – Sen. Mark Warner
Trump’s contentious history with the intelligence community dates back to his first term. His severely low attendance at formal White House briefings calls into question. Are these sessions as valuable to him as his more informal communications?
Former intelligence officials have noted that while Trump’s approach is unconventional, there are merits in receiving nuanced information directly from intelligence officers without policy filters. Larry Pfeiffer, a former chief of staff at the CIA, pointed out the benefits of having direct access to intelligence insights.
“They are going to be more inclined to provide him with more nuanced information — information that’s not been parsed through a policy perspective.” – Larry Pfeiffer
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