The President’s Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to the First Customer

At a public event held at the LBJ Presidential Library, the CIA released previously classified daily briefings it gave to Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy in the 1960s.

CIA Director John O. Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper delivered remarks at the event titled “The President’s Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to the First Customer.”

In addition, the program featured a panel discussion and remarks by other leaders from the academic, archivist, policymaking, and intelligence communities, including:

• Peter Clement, Deputy Assistant Director of CIA for Europe and Eurasia and former PDB Briefer, CIA
• David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
• Porter J. Goss, Former Director, CIA
• John Helgerson, Former Deputy Director for Intelligence, CIA
• William Inboden, Executive Director, William P. Clements, Jr. Center for History, Strategy, and Statecraft, The University of Texas at Austin
• Admiral Bobby Inman, Former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, CIA
• Joe Lambert, Director, Information Management Services, CIA
• William H. McRaven, Chancellor, The University of Texas System
• David Robarge, Chief Historian, CIA
• Mark K. Updegrove, Director, LBJ Presidential Library

The President’s Daily Brief, known in Washington as the “PDB,” contains intelligence analysis on crucial national security concerns. Only the president, vice president, and a small group of officials designated by the president receive the briefing.

Director Brennan released the documents at the event. The collection includes PDBs from June 1961 in the early years of the Kennedy Administration through the end of President Johnson’s term in January 1969.

For more information, visit LBJLibrary.org.