Latest news with #PDB
Int'l Business Times
13 hours ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Has Taken Fewer Briefings Than Biden and Obama. Now Officials Are Turning to Fox News for Inspiration: Report
President Donald Trump has received significantly fewer intelligence briefings than his predecessors, and now officials are considering remaking the President's Daily Brief (PDB) to resemble a Fox News broadcast in an effort to capture his attention. The PDB is a classified intelligence document designed to keep the commander-in-chief informed on pressing global and national security issues. Traditionally a written and sometimes graphical document, the PDB has been tailored in past instances to presidents' personal preferences. Trump has reportedly taken the PDB just 14 times since returning to office, according to NBC News. That's far fewer than the 55 briefings he received during a similar period in his first term, or the 90 and 63 briefings taken by Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, respectively. Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, is now leading an effort to overhaul how the PDB is delivered. According to five sources familiar with the internal deliberations, Gabbard and her team have discussed presenting the daily intelligence update in video form, styled like a Fox News segment. Some proposals have included hiring a producer from the network and using animated graphics—such as maps showing exploding bombs—to capture Trump's attention. Other tweaks under discussion include focusing more on topics Trump cares about, such as trade and the economy, while downplaying coverage of the war in Ukraine. Despite a spokesperson dismissing NBC's report as "laughable" and "fake news," sources inside the intelligence community say the changes reflect broader efforts by Gabbard to reform the PDB and build trust with a distrusting president. Gabbard is reportedly planning to relocate the PDB's production from CIA headquarters in Langley to her own office in McLean to consolidate oversight. As the reforms unfold, intelligence officials and congressional overseers remain divided over whether the changes are innovative or dangerously partisan. Originally published on Latin Times Donald trump Joe biden Barack obama
Newsweek
17 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Donald Trump is Taking Daily Briefings Less than Once a Week
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump is taking daily briefings on intelligence matters less than once a week, according to his public schedule. He has looked at the routine rundown known as the President's Daily Brief (PDB) less often than in his first term, said NBC News. This is also less frequently than his recent predecessors, the outlet reported, though his predecessors also did not take daily briefings. A White House spokesperson recently told POLITICO that Trump was "constantly apprised" of briefings and "regularly in touch with his national security team." Why It Matters The PDB is a daily document that briefs the president and members of the cabinet with classified intelligence issues pertaining to national security. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. AP Photo/Evan Vucci The briefings come as the U.S. is engaged with multiple international issues, from trying to broker peace deals in Gaza and Ukraine to navigating potential threats from China and Russia. It follows reporting in Trump's first administration that indicated Trump preferred graphics in intelligence briefings. What To Know NBC reported that, in their first year in office, former President Joe Biden received 90 PDBs. Trump received 55 in his first administration and former president Barack Obama received 63. Under this analysis, none of the three former presidents took daily briefings. On May 9, POLITICO reported that Trump had, up to that point, sat for 12 PDBs since January. CNN, citing anonymous sources, reported in April that the Trump administration has restricted the number of people who have access to the report to avoid potential leaks to the press. Also in February, Trump revoked Biden's access to daily briefings, in retaliation for Biden doing the same to Trump in 2021. Traditionally, former presidents continue to receive intelligence briefings even after leaving office. What People Are Saying William F. Hall, an adjunct professor of political science and business at Webster University in St. Louis, told Newsweek: "The quality, comprehensiveness and most of all, truthfulness, of the information provided by the presidential briefings, in whatever specific type or structure of communication format or frequency of schedule employed, is of far more importance than either frequency of briefings or specific type of format of presentation utilized." Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee told POLITICO: "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." Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson told POLITICO: "The president is constantly apprised of classified briefings and is regularly in touch with his national security team. The entire intelligence community actively informs President Trump in real time about critical national security developments." National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told POLITICO: "President Trump has multiple high-level, national security briefings every day. While the scope can range from a comprehensive presentation of global intelligence, to meeting with senior national security officials on an issue of immediate importance, the daily engagement of President Trump is prolific." What Happens Next The frequency with which Trump takes briefings as his presidency continues may change.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
To deliver intelligence to Trump, DNI Tulsi Gabbard eyes creative solutions
By any fair measure, Donald Trump's second term has been challenging for U.S. intelligence agencies. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, for example, recently fired the leaders of the National Intelligence Council because it dared to produce accurate information the president didn't like. That coincided with reports of a Trump appointee trying to politicize intelligence, the White House moving forward with a 'major downsizing' at U.S. intelligence agencies, and the president's recent decision to fire the leadership of the National Security Agency, a key intelligence gathering department, as well as the National Security Council's director for intelligence. But perhaps most important is the fact that Trump tends to ignore intelligence briefings and reports, as NBC News reported that Gabbard is exploring new ways to 'revamp' his intelligence briefings in order to bring them in line with 'how he likes to consume information.' From the report: 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. ... 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. I can appreciate why this might seem amusing, but NBC News wasn't kidding. The same report noted that one insider envisioned a new presidential daily briefing that would include 'maps with animated representations of exploding bombs, similar to a video game,' apparently in the hopes of capturing the president's attention. 'The problem with Trump is that he doesn't read,' said one person with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions. Of course, that's only part of the problem. Not only does the Republican avoid reading briefing materials, he also doesn't want to receive in-person, oral presentations of intelligence, either. Politico reported last month that Trump, during his second term, 'has sat for just 12 presentations from intelligence officials of the President's Daily Brief,' which represents 'a significant drop' compared with the Republican's first term, and a vastly smaller number than the presentations for recent Democratic presidents. Time will tell whether Gabbard's creative solutions are implemented — how intelligence officials would give a Fox News producer the necessary security clearance would be an interesting challenge — but hanging overheard is the inconvenient fact that Trump doesn't seem to want intelligence briefings. His record on this is long and unambiguous. During his transition process in 2016, for example, Trump skipped nearly all of his intelligence briefings. Asked why, the Republican told Fox News in December 2016, 'Well, I get it when I need it. ... I don't have to be told — you know, I'm, like, a smart person.' As his inauguration drew closer, Trump acknowledged that he likes very short intelligence briefings. 'I like bullets, or I like as little as possible,' he explained in January 2017. Around the same time, he added, 'I don't need, you know, 200-page reports on something that can be handled on a page.' Things did not improve once he was in power. In early 2017, intelligence professionals went to great lengths to try to accommodate the president's toddler-like attention span, preparing reports 'with lots of graphics and maps.' National Security Council officials eventually learned that Trump was likely to stop reading important materials unless he saw his own name, so they included his name in 'as many paragraphs' as possible. In August 2017, The Washington Post had a piece on then-White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, who struggled to 'hold the attention of the president' during briefings on Afghanistan. The article noted, '[E]ven a single page of bullet points on the country seemed to tax the president's attention span on the subject.' A Trump confidant said at the time, 'I call the president the two-minute man. The president has patience for a half-page.' In February 2018, the Post reported that Trump 'rarely, if ever' read the PDB prepared for him. Months later, the Post had a separate report noting that the CIA and other agencies devoted enormous 'time, energy and resources' to ensuring that Trump received key intelligence, but 'his seeming imperviousness to such material often renders 'all of that a waste.'' In early 2020, the Post reported that Trump missed the early alarms on the Covid threat in part because he 'routinely skips reading the PDB' and had 'little patience' for oral summaries of the intelligence. Exactly five years ago next week, The New York Times had a related report: The president veers off on tangents and getting him back on topic is difficult, they said. He has a short attention span and rarely, if ever, reads intelligence reports, relying instead on conservative media and his friends for information. He is unashamed to interrupt intelligence officers and riff based on tips or gossip. ... Mr. Trump rarely absorbs information that he disagrees with or that runs counter to his worldview, the officials said. Briefing him has been so great a challenge compared with his predecessors that the intelligence agencies have hired outside consultants to study how better to present information to him. It was an extraordinary revelation to consider: A sitting American president, in a time of multiple and dangerous crises, was so resistant to learning about security threats that his own country's intelligence officials sought outside help to figure out how to get him to listen and focus. Will Gabbard figure out a way to get Trump to care about information he doesn't want to receive? There's reason for skepticism. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Could Get Fox News-Style Intel Briefings Because He ‘Doesn't Read': Report
President Donald Trump's National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard is looking for ways to change the president's intelligence briefings to align with his media consumption habits and gain his trust, possibly adopting a video format, NBC News reports. Gabbard has apparently consulted current and former intelligence officials for solutions. One possibility would be to turn the briefings into videos styled after Fox News, four sources told the outlet in its report published Saturday. The President's Daily Brief, or PDB, is currently a daily digital document containing text, graphics, and images. In order to carry out this new approach, the national intelligence director's office could even hire one of Fox News' talking heads and one of the network's producers. Gabbard herself was a paid contributor to the network. Trump has received the PDB, which can influence the president's decisions, just 14 times since he took office, according to his public schedule. During his first administration, the PDB was changed to a one-page outline that included less writing and more pictures, and was presented verbally. He received the briefing 55 times during this same period in 2017. President Joe Biden had received 90 PDBs by this time. According to the sources, Gabbard thinks Trump's infrequency could be because of his distrust of intelligence officials, but also because he consumes media differently than how the PDB is formatted. Fox News has been his favorite news source, at least since his first administration. 'The problem with Trump is that he doesn't read,' a source said. 'He's on broadcast all the time.' Another idea for the PDB would be to include graphics and maps with animations of exploding bombs 'similar to a video game,' per NBC News' report. Getting Trump to welcome the PDB 'is a very uphill fight' because of his distrust of the intelligence community, one source told the outlet. Gabbard's office denied the story. '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,' Olivia Coleman, the press secretary for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said in a statement to NBC News. The story is 'libelous garbage from unnamed sources,' White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the outlet, adding: '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.' Gabbard has also considered shifting the PDB to focus on topics that Trump is more interested in, like economics and trade, and less on the war in Ukraine, three sources said. 'You shift with the priorities of the administration,' one source told NBC News. Earlier this month, Gabbard changed who prepared the PDB, giving her more control over it, PBS News reported. She also fired two top National Intelligence Council officials after the NIC said in a report that the Venezuelan government was not sending Tren de Aragua gang members to the U.S., contradicting Trump's claims. '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,' Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. A CIA report published in 2021 outlined the struggles of briefing Trump during his first administration. 'Briefing Trump presented the IC with the most difficult challenges it had ever faced,' wrote retired intelligence officer John L. Helgerson. Trump, he said, 'doubted the competence of intelligence professionals and felt no need for regular intelligence support.' At the time, Trump was also not prone to receiving the PDB. 'He touched it,' said Ted Gistaro, a CIA analyst who frequently briefed Trump, said in 2021. 'He doesn't really read anything.' More from Rolling Stone The Seven Ugliest Provisions in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Trump Says He's Fired Director of National Portrait Gallery ... Over 'DEI' Trump Addresses Possible Sean Combs Pardon: 'I Would Certainly Look at the Facts' Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Gabbard considering ways to revamp Trump's intelligence briefing
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.' This article was originally published on
