Washington (CNN) -
The president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, will mark a milestone this Monday on his way to the White House.
You will receive your first Presidential Daily Report (PDB): intelligence reports, the collection of secrets, and the intelligence community's analysis of short-term and long-term threats that United States leaders need to know to rule the country. and keep it safe.
President Donald Trump, who has refused to acknowledge his defeat in the election, relented only last week in his initial refusal to allow Biden access to the most vital intelligence in the nation.
A tradition grounded in America's national security interests to ensure that the election winner and his or her incoming team are as prepared as possible to deal with global threats and challenges.
In 2016, Trump received his first PDB, as he is known, a week after the election.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will receive the same report Monday with Biden, the transition team said Wednesday.
This ends the strange situation in which she, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had access to more classified intelligence than the president-elect.
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Biden, a "voracious" consumer of intelligence
Monday's briefing could give Biden and Harris their first deep insight into pressing questions, including how Iran plans to respond to the assassination of its top nuclear scientist and what is known about that assassination.
Also on longer-term strategic concerns.
How is the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?
Does a fringe terror group show signs of developing higher ambitions?
Former officials who know Biden said he will be a disciplined and enthusiastic consumer of both written materials and the accompanying oral report.
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"In my experience with then-Vice President Biden, he was an avid reader and generally a voracious consumer of intelligence," said Obama's late Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
"I'm sure he will be especially so as president."
Biden's approach will mark another contrast to Trump, who has skipped obtaining the PDB every day and rarely reads written materials, preferring oral reports on certain intelligence topics, The Washington Post reported.
"President Joe Biden will not get a version of Cliff Notes from the PDB," Samantha Vinograd, a former senior adviser to the National Security Council, told CNN.
Vinograd, now a CNN Homeland Security analyst, said that for Biden, “unlike President Trump, the Presidential Daily Report is not going to be a 'if I feel like it' kind of activity.
In my experience with then-Vice President Biden, the PDB was something that had to be done.
The Presidential Daily Report contains the daily compilation of analysis and information that the intelligence community believes the president and his senior national security personnel need to start the day;
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This is how the intelligence report is prepared
Intelligence informants arrive in the middle of the night to prepare for their morning sessions with these senior clients: they study PDB material, review raw intelligence and other finished analytical products, and ask questions of experts they expect to receive during their sessions. .
The intelligence community can also use the Presidential Daily Report as a way to pinpoint threats it sees coming that may not be on a leader's radar.
Written materials are usually accompanied by a verbal briefing that gives the chair an opportunity to ask questions and better understand the discussions.
Biden and his team had received more sporadic reports of electoral and strategic threats from different ODNI officials during the fall campaign, but now, Biden has said, he will receive these more detailed intelligence reports on a "regular" basis.
Traditionally, the president-elect has received a copy of the PDB from the incumbent president, said David Priess, a former CIA agent who served during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and is the author of "The Secret Book of president ”, on the PDB.
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The intelligence that Biden can find in his sessions
But intelligence agents reporting to the president-elect always supplement those materials with additional information to bring the incoming leader up to date, Priess said.
The presidential daily reports are deeply detailed, but the supplemental materials and briefings are meant to "help make it whole."
In Biden's case, Priess adds, "as far as we left off last time."
Vinograd said Biden's past experience in office and with briefings means he's "not going to have a steep learning curve when it comes to intelligence."
Designated informants for Biden and Harris can also offer more material and in-depth analysis on issues that concern both of you.
If Biden, for example, were particularly interested in what the intelligence community knows about the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist, for which Iran has blamed Israel, he might ask for more information about the Iranian nuclear program.
Priess notes that Trump may act to limit the content of Biden's briefings, just as he chose not to share the PDB at all, even after it became clear to most of the country that Biden had won.
"There is always the possibility that the president may choose not to share the PDB with the president-elect," Priess said.
"That is simply a tradition of good government, not in the statutes ... and there is nothing to say that cannot restrict what elements go to the president-elect."
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This is the finished intelligence product
Priess adds that he doubts Trump "will do something that is micromanaged," particularly as most reports suggest that the president is not a detailed reader of the PDB.
While it's unclear where Biden and Harris will receive their report this Monday, it is typically delivered to a secure room known as a Secure Compartment Information Facility, or SCIF, which could be built for Biden at his residence or take place elsewhere in Wilmington.
It may be in a federal government building, if not in Washington.
Sometimes, like when the president is on vacation, the rules are more relaxed and an informational meeting outside could even occur.
The complex work of putting together the daily reports is overseen by the Director of National Intelligence and the finished product that reaches the president's desk can take many different forms, depending on the preference of the commander-in-chief, including bound books, special iPads, spiral notebooks. and leather-bound folders.
At first, Biden will get his written version of the PDB in whatever form Trump receives it, Priess said.
"Biden will get whatever Trump gets through January 20 and by then his informants will have figured out which format is best for him," Priess said.
Some of Biden's nominees for high-level national security positions, including Antony Blinken, his candidate for secretary of state, and Jake Sullivan, appointed to be a Homeland Security Advisor, could also start receiving reports, if Trump allows it.
"In the last couple of transitions, the usual thing is that as officials are nominated for the positions they will receive the PDB once they are confirmed, they are generally allowed to start looking at intelligence reports," Priess said.
He cautions that “that's what happened in past transitions.
We will see what this president does ”.
In addition to the potential briefings, Trump's National Security adviser Robert O'Brien and his deputy Matthew Pottinger are scheduled to hold meetings with Sullivan and one or two of his deputies in the coming days to discuss some of the issues. national security officials more critical of the incoming administration, a US official told CNN.
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