Artifact Details
For more than seventy-five years, US Presidents have received a daily, multi-source intelligence digest, which is one of the most important channels of communication between CIA and the White House. In January 1946, President Harry Truman asked his new Central Intelligence Group—CIA’s immediate predecessor—to support him in the role of president by providing strategic warning consolidated from among the nation’s government departments. Prior to Truman’s presidency, information had been relayed to the president piecemeal because the departments were largely stove-piped. Within weeks of the President’s tasking, then-Director of Central Intelligence Sidney Souers assembled a team, obtained cables and reports from the various departments, and forwarded the first Daily Summary.
In June 1961, one of President John F. Kennedy’s senior aides told the Agency’s intelligence managers that they needed to come up with a new publication if CIA were to remain useful as a source of value-added information. Kennedy indicated that he wanted a concise summary of all-source intelligence on key issues written in clear language that contained no spin or bureaucratic jargon from the various government departments. What developed was the President’s Intelligence Checklist (PICL) format, which President Kennedy liked immediately. Kennedy was reportedly enthusiastic in his responses on the PICL, sometimes praising an account and other times objecting to a comment, which was welcomed by intelligence officers, who appreciated the President’s engagement and feedback to improve the product.
The PICL remained essentially unchanged until the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), crafted to appeal to President Lyndon Johnson, superseded it in December 1964. To maintain the “First Customer’s” interest, the PDB continues to be tailored and delivered according to each president’s feedback once taking office. In the summer of 2009, the CIA Museum added one of President Barack Obama’s PDB Binders to its collection.