Gabbard considering ways to revamp Trump's intelligence briefing

CNBC

a day ago

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's intelligence chief is exploring ways to revamp his routine intelligence briefing in order to build his trust in the material and make it more aligned with how he likes to consume information, according to five people with direct knowledge of the discussions.
As part of that effort, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has solicited ideas from current and former intelligence officials about steps she could take to tailor the briefing, known as the President's Daily Brief, or PDB, to Trump's policy interests and habits.
One idea that's been discussed is possibly creating a video version of the PDB that's made to look and feel like a Fox News broadcast, four of the people with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
Currently, the PDB is a digital document created daily for the president and key Cabinet members and advisers that includes written text, as well as graphics and images. The material that goes into the classified briefing, and how it's presented, can shape a president's decision-making.
According to his public schedule, since his inauguration Trump has taken the PDB 14 times, or on average less than once a week, which is less often than his recent predecessors — including himself during his first term. An analysis of their public schedules during that same timeframe — from their inauguration through May during their first year in office — shows that former President Joe Biden received 90 PDBs; Trump received 55; and former President Barack Obama received 63.
The people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions said Gabbard believes that cadence may be a reflection of Trump's preference for consuming information in a different form than the formal briefing, as well as his distrust of intelligence officials, which stretches back to his first term, when he accused them of spying on his 2016 campaign. They also said that even if the presentation of the PDB changes, the information included would not.
Asked for comment, DNI Press Secretary Olivia Coleman said in a statement,"This so-called 'reporting' is laughable, absurd, and flat-out false. In true fake news fashion, NBC is publishing yet another anonymously sourced false story."
A source familiar with the DNI's internal deliberations said that during Gabbard's confirmation process in the Senate, "there was bipartisan consensus that the PDB was in need of serious reform. DNI Gabbard is leading that reform and is ensuring the President receives timely, relevant, objective intelligence reporting."
In a statement, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle referred to this reporting as "libelous garbage from unnamed sources," and said, "President Trump has assembled a world-class intelligence team who he is constantly communicating with and receiving real time updates on all pressing national security issues. Ensuring the safety and security of the American people is President Trump's number one priority."
It is not unusual for the PDB to be tailored to individual presidents. The PDB's presentation was adjusted for Trump in his first term to include less text and more pictures and graphics. Gabbard has discussed more extensive changes, according to the people with direct knowledge of the discussions. It's unclear how far her effort will go, but the people with direct knowledge of it said she has entertained some unconventional ideas.
One idea that has been discussed is to transform the PDB so it mirrors a Fox News broadcast, according to four of the people with direct knowledge of the discussions. Under that concept as it has been discussed, the national intelligence director's office could hire a Fox News producer to produce it and one of the network's personalities to present it; Trump, an avid Fox News viewer, could then watch the broadcast PDB whenever he wanted.
A new PDB could include not only graphics and pictures but also maps with animated representations of exploding bombs, similar to a video game, another one of the people with knowledge of the discussions said.
"The problem with Trump is that he doesn't read," said another people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions. "He's on broadcast all the time."
The people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations.
U.S. intelligence officials have created videos in the past to present information to presidents, including profiles of world leaders, for instance. Hollywood legend Charlton Heston narrated instructional films about highly classified topics for the Energy Department and the U.S. intelligence and military community. The films included information about nuclear weapons, requiring Heston to hold the highest relevant security clearance possible for at least six years.
Former intelligence officials who worked in the first Trump administration said Trump preferred to be briefed verbally and to ask questions but would not read memos or other lengthy written material.
During Trump's first term, the PDB evolved into a one-page outline of topics with a set of graphics, presented verbally by an intelligence officer about twice a week, according to a history of presidential briefings by John Helgerson.
To accommodate Trump's style and preferences, Vice President Mike Pence told the briefers to "lean forward on maps," according to Helgerson's book.
But there has not been a broadcast or cable news-style PDB presentation. While the PDB has gone through various transformations under different presidents since it was created in 1946, it has largely been in a written format that was then briefed to the president verbally.
Gabbard has also discussed tailoring some of the content in the PDB to Trump's interests, such as including more information on economic and trade issues and less routine focus on the war in Ukraine, according to three of the people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions.
Including intelligence on issues the president particularly cares about is not unusual. The PDB for Biden included gender and climate change issues, one of those three people said.
"You shift with the priorities of the administration," that person said, adding that because of Trump's distrust of the intelligence community, getting him to embrace the PDB "is a very uphill fight."
As director of national intelligence, Gabbard oversees and approves the PDB. A large staff of analysts and other employees at the CIA compiles the PDB, creating detailed text, graphics and videos based on the latest intelligence gathered by America's spy agencies.
NBC News has reported that Gabbard plans to move the office that prepares the PDB from the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to the national intelligence director's office a few miles away in McLean — apparently to bolster her office's role in presenting intelligence to the president.
The ODNI would need to expand its staff and acquire digital tools and other infrastructure to assemble the PDB, one of the five people familiar with the discussions said.
If the PDB were to be converted to a video for Trump, it would still most likely be provided in something like its current form to other top administration officials who receive it, that person said.
Because he has been taking the PDB a little less than once a week on average, Trump currently receives a product that one of the people familiar with the PDB discussions described as the "best of" highlights from the past week, in addition to anything new that day.
Discussions about potential changes to the PDB come amid questions about whether Gabbard may politicize the intelligence process, especially after her chief of staff, Joe Kent, asked analysts to revise an assessment on a Venezuelan criminal gang that appeared to undermine Trump's immigration policy, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Two senior officials who led the National Intelligence Council were recently fired after the initial intelligence assessment contradicted Trump's assertions that the Tren de Aragua cartel was operating under the direction of Venezuela's regime, led by Nicolás Maduro. Trump cited claims about the regime's purported relationship with the cartel as his rationale for invoking a rarely used 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport people suspected of being gang members without standard due process.
It's common for intelligence leaders to put their own staffs in place, but the move concerned congressional Democrats who already questioned some of Gabbard's efforts to have tighter control over what intelligence reaches Trump.
"Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the president's political agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical," Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
An administration official previously told NBC News that the two officials were fired "because they were unable to provide unbiased intelligence."