When it comes to intelligence updates, US President-elect Donald Trump is a contrasting figure from his latest predecessors. The routine submission of discrete files to the Office of the President of the United States may need some adjustments.
As of late, an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week is being forwarded to the upcoming American leader. The number is a mile off when compared to the number of reports previous Presidents had been receiving.
The President's Daily Brief (PDB) is a regular document on the US Commander-in-Chief's desk. Although it is not compulsory, having the report provides the President with an edge and an inside look into the highly-classified and closely-secured government data.
Trump's approach to his daily intelligence briefing has somewhat baffled many. The real estate magnate has just decided to receive the files from time to time which means that getting the information daily is being ruled out.
One official on the transition team has shared that the new President is being briefed about national security situations. However, the frequency that the billionaire businessman received the notes has not been disclosed.
Although Trump has requested for more files from the intelligence community, it has not been revealed what type of topics he wanted. Subjects coming into his office have not included Russia or Iran.
On the other hand, Vice President-elect Mike Pence is getting his own briefs six days a week.
According to former CIA briefer David Priess, a tradition calls top US leaders to have close intelligence sit-ins between their elections and their inaugurations.
The writer of a book about PDBs also shares that daily briefings for incoming Presidents have been delayed at some point. Both Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter have theirs later in November while George W. Bush has his in December.
Meanwhile, Richard Nixon has not been in favor of having the PDBs delivered to his office. In fact, a pile of them has been returned to the CIA unopened.
Democrat representative Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee has noted that it is distressing to know that Trump doesn't have time for regular intelligence briefings.
