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wasoxygen  ·  1338 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Past Presidents can still get the top secret PDB (President's Daily Briefing)

    First, the President has Top Secret clearance

"Security clearances are not mandated for the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, or other constitutional officers." Source: Congressional Research Service Security Clearance Process: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

    Second, anyone with Top Secret clearance can request a debrief from the CIA

Can you provide a source for this information?

    The CIA produces the PDB, and the same individuals who produce and present the PDB content are the ones that would debrief the Top Secret clearance holder who made the request.

More than a million people hold a TS. Source: Office of Management and Budget, 2014 Suitability and Security Security Processes Review (Table 1)

"The PDB is produced by the director of national intelligence" Source: wikipedia stuff

Is John Ratcliffe on call to debrief any of these million TS holders on request?

    Third, people like George HW Bush was said to get it every day

Source: Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

    Bush inhaled the daily CIA briefings sent to former presidents, and he remained addicted to the news, following it while restricting his commentary to close friends.

This passage is mentioned in the discussion page of the Wikipedia article when the statement "Former Presidents are entitled to receive the PDB" was removed for lack of evidence in March 2013.

    Fourth, is has been noted that other Presidents - like Bush 43 - never asked for it, after leaving office. This mention alone indicates there is some expectation that it is normal for a past President to request briefings.

One could speculate just as easily that he didn't request it because he didn't expect to receive the PDB after leaving office. Without a source, we have no way to judge.

    Fifth, there was some uproar over Obama getting debriefs after he left office

The New Yorker, source for the Newsweek article, claims that "some of Trump’s most fervent supporters in the White House" and "some of the new President’s advisers" suggested revoking security clearances of former president Obama and his officials to prevent "access to intelligence briefings that were made available to all of his living predecessors." I see no evidence that these briefings are the same as the PDB, or that they are available to anyone with Top Secret clearance who requests them.

I think a responsible title would be "Former presidents can get intelligence briefings."

Anyone can request whatever they want, but I don't see any way to even request access to the PDB.

Sorry for the aggressive fact-checking, but I think these days concern for truth is more important than ever. As the CIA says in a source available to all, "Verify. Verify. Verify."