What is the PDB?

The PDB contains some of the Nation's most sensitive information.

The President’s Daily Brief (PDB) is a daily summary of high-level, all-source information and analysis on national security issues produced for the president and key cabinet members and advisers. The PDB is coordinated and delivered by the ODNI with contributions from the CIA as well as other IC elements and has been presented in some form to the president since 1946.

The PDB has been presented in some form to the president since 1946, when President Harry S. Truman received the Daily Summary. Over the years, the PDB has evolved to meet the needs and preferences of each president and has expanded to include more information. (The original Daily Summary was not an all-source publication and reported only on foreign intelligence matters.) In 2014, the PDB transitioned from a print product to electronic delivery at the request of President Barack Obama. Learn more about the history of the PDB at CIA.gov.

Given the sensitive nature of the information, most PDBs—even those from many years past—remain classified. However, the CIA has declassified and released thousands of PDBs (or PDB predecessors) produced during the administrations of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. They can be accessed on the CIA website's FOIA section.