# Security Briefings **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701 "2016-12-14T18:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/41 "2016-12-15T14:42:48Z")
I would assume that the intelligence briefers are smart enough to realize that the President is a busy person and that the PDB should not be repetitive. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/42 "2016-12-15T14:44:40Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > I believe I must ask you to point out where I have asserted that allies have already issued questions about the final bill? Or implied that costs are going up? Or that buyers would already have had time to push bills about changing their orders through their respective parliaments? > > English is not your native language, I am guessing? I remember how hard it was to learn. You wrote: > [@](#): > > Especially since the US is selling a large number of these exceptionally expensive items to allies. **Who may now have questions about the final bill, since the US president has told them that they are vastly overpaying for the ones they have on order**. I quoted this in my post, too. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/43 "2016-12-15T14:49:21Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > English is not your native language, I am guessing? I remember how hard it was to learn. You’re over the line with this. Leave personal insults out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/44 "2016-12-15T14:55:46Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > You wrote: > > I quoted this in my post, too. Indeed you did. It just does not resemble what you addressed. Saying that people may now have questions is not the same thing as asserting that people have question, or found their costs going up. See, that word “may” that you left out of the quote is quite important. I am simply stating that Trump is going to be in charge of the nation selling these things, if he wants to state they are far too expensive, buyers may have questions. It is not how you normally expect a businessman to pitch sales. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/45 "2016-12-15T15:03:55Z")
Isn’t this what Pence is for? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/46 "2016-12-15T15:07:48Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > You’re over the line with this. Leave personal insults out of it. I am not a native speaker, and would be grateful if you’d explain how it is somehow an insult to point out that out? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/47 "2016-12-15T15:12:19Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The “someone to confirm a launch order” would be any of the Cabinet secretaries or government agency leaders confirmed by the Senate. So we might end up with Ben Carson deciding the fate of the human race. A man whose religious beliefs embrace the doctrine of Annihilationism\*. \*It’s a joke. I’m aware Annihilationism means something else. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/48 "2016-12-15T15:29:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So we might end up with Ben Carson deciding the fate of the human race. A man whose religious beliefs embrace the doctrine of Annihilationism\*. > > \*It’s a joke. I’m aware Annihilationism means something else. At least we’ll have a few hours while he struggles to finish the sentence. And then a few more while he looks for his luggage. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/49 "2016-12-15T15:57:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I would assume that the intelligence briefers are smart enough to realize that the President is a busy person and that the PDB should not be repetitive. I wouldn’t assume that. Two reasons. 1) if their job is to produce a daily briefing then they’re going to produce a daily briefing. If there’s anything major going on they’ll focus on that, but if there isn’t then they’ll report what they’ve got. 2) most people tend to overvalue the importance and interest of whatever it is that they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/50 "2016-12-15T16:37:48Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > I am not a native speaker, and would be grateful if you’d explain how it is somehow an insult to point out that out? If you wish to discuss the moderating decision, please feel free to start an ATMB thread. Let’s not derail this thread with that conversation. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/51 "2016-12-16T03:55:25Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > So Trump seems to have attracted some criticism for forgoing most of the daily security briefings that presidents usually get. I’m no expert on these matters, but it seems to me that Trump’s approach makes sense. > > How much of significance changes in a typical day? I would have to imagine that that’s very little. ISTM a waste of time to have a president listen to daily briefings that are mostly more of the same old same old. If anything major does happen that requires presidential attention then people whose job it is to focus on such things can bring it to his attention. > > What am I missing here? > > [FWIW, here’s [Slate](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/12/13/is_trump_right_about_the_presidential_daily_brief_being_repetitive.html) on the subject - critical of Trump but unconvincing to me.] I think Trump is being quite reasonable in skipping the briefings if he finds them not helpful. Obsessing over any one part of the job is a bad idea for a senior executive. That said, if I were doing that job, I would follow Obama’s practice and get them in hardcopy (on an iPad as I understand it) to read every day. There is an advantage to detecting trends by seeing the material each day-if the reports are read critically. While I neither trust nor respect Trump, in this case I see him acting quite reasonably. He is the President after all, in charge of a lot more than what the intelligence community is interested in. And lets not forget President Kennedy’s comment about his intelligence briefings (I realize that was a long time ago): he often got just as much current information by reading the N. Y. Times the next day. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/52 "2016-12-16T07:03:46Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > … part of the idea is that the president decides when something is important rather than purely relying on others to let him know when something important comes up. And that the president is already largely up to speed when something DOES happen rather than having to get him up to speed on the last three weeks’ events in some foreign nation when the shooting starts. This. Many Americans rely on FoxNews or the W.S. Journal telling them what is important. How’s that working out for all y’all? Trump may not watch FoxNews and instead rely on Jared Kushner, Vladimir Putin, Steve Bannon and John Bolton to tell him what’s important. Is that an improvement? I wouldn’t worry though about Trump coming up to speed in a few minutes when the shooting starts. He’s really really smart, knows more than the generals. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/53 "2016-12-16T10:28:30Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > This clearly has much more to do with Trump’s inability to pay attention [(link)](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/donald-trump-attention-span-214223) than it does with the bizarre assertion that nothing new tends to happen in the world during the course of a week. Plus, these briefings probably make him feel stupid. They’d be full of unfamiliar people, places, organizations, and jargon. Not knowing the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah is just the tip of the iceberg. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/54 "2016-12-16T14:28:51Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Plus, these briefings probably make him feel stupid. They’d be full of unfamiliar people, places, organizations, and jargon. Not knowing the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah is just the tip of the iceberg. “Wait…you’re saying Iraq and Iran are two different countries?..I thought it was a typo.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/55 "2016-12-16T14:52:33Z")
Again, I would expect that those giving the briefings would be sensitive to the knowledge or the lack thereof in the person they’re briefing, especially early in a presidency and especially in this case where we’ve selected a rank amateur for the job. There are ways one can discuss these things without making the briefee feel like an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701/56 "2016-12-16T14:59:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There are ways one can discuss these things without making the briefee feel like an idiot. Unfortunately, the most effective step is to elect someone who isn’t an idiot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/security-briefings/774701.md?page=2)