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Daily Summary

Since 1946, US intelligence has provided a coordinated, daily report for the President. Those early reports bear little resemblance to today’s President's Daily Brief, or PDB, which the IC provides to the President and his senior national security advisors. In January 1946, President Truman—unhappy that there was no coordinated method of informing the President—directed the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy to jointly establish a Central Intelligence Group (CIG), to be headed by a Director of Central Intelligence appointed by the President. The CIG published what was called the Daily Summary between 15 February 1946 and 28 February 1951, during which time the CIG became the CIA.

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Part 1: Daily Summary 15 February - 9 March 1946 [3]

These reports focused on the immediate aftermath of World War II. The initial intelligence summaries covered a wide array of topics including widespread starvation, displaced persons, European border realignment, and other post-war challenges.

 

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Part 2: Daily Summary 11 March - 31 December 1946 [5]

These reports focused on US efforts to stabilize war-torn Europe and East Asia. The reports through the year broadened to include more world-wide concerns. It seemed no country was untouched by the threat of starvation, civil unrest or the potential of new hostilities. By the end of 1946, the Daily Summary included more background on leadership struggles worldwide, US financial aid, and the ever-growing cloud of communist expansionism.

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Part 3: Daily Summary 2 January - 31 December 1947 [7]

These reports focused on the conditions that led to the 1947 announcement of what would become known as the Truman Doctrine: that it would be "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Highlights of this installment include the political and economic chaos in Greece, the scramble to secure petroleum supplies across the world, and an escalating arms race in Palestine.

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Part 4: Daily Summary 2 January - 31 December 1948 [9]

These reports covered a variety of topics, but the primary focus was the successful American and Allied campaign to supply the Soviet-blockaded city of Berlin, an unprecedented effort that became known as the Berlin Airlift. Other highlights include the inconclusive efforts of the United Nations, the United States, and the United Kingdom to resolve the ongoing "Palestine problem," and the increasingly weakened position of the Nationalist government in China.

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Part 5: Daily Summary 3 January - 30 December 1949 [11]

These reports covered events around the world, but by far the dominant issue of the year was the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war and the establishment or the People's Republic of China. Other highlights of the this installment include the ongoing Berlin crisis, continuing efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Soviet efforts to isolate Marshall Tito's Yugoslavia.

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Part 6: Daily Summary 3 January 1950 - 27 February 1951 [13]

These reports covered a variety of topics, with an emphasis on the Korean War and U.S. efforts to support the Republic of Korea without igniting a wider war with China and the Soviet Union. Other highlights of this installment include the growing tensions in Indochina, particularly French activities in Viet Nam, and the widening rift between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

See declassified President’s Daily Briefs [14] from the Kennedy, Johnson [15], Nixon, and Ford [16]administrations.