Photo: Central Intelligence Agency from Washington, D.C., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
What It Is
The President's Daily Brief, or PDB, is the most famous product intelligence analysts make. Presidents have received a daily written intelligence summary since 1946, when President Truman got a report called the Daily Summary. In June 1961, the CIA created a short, plain-language version for President Kennedy called the President's Intelligence Checklist, nicknamed the "pickle." In December 1964 it was renamed the President's Daily Brief. Today the PDB is coordinated and delivered by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with contributions from the CIA and other agencies, and it goes to the President and key advisers. It is produced six days a week through a round-the-clock process, and since 2014 it has been delivered electronically instead of on paper.
Why It Matters
The PDB shows what intelligence analysis is really for: giving the country's top decision maker a clear, honest picture of the world each morning. Every sentence must be accurate, carefully sourced, and easy to understand. Most PDBs remain classified, but in 2015 and 2016 the CIA released about 5,000 declassified briefs from the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford years, so anyone can now read what presidents were told during major events of the 1960s and 1970s. For young people, the PDB is a reminder that clear writing can shape history.
