President-elect Donald Trump is now receiving the same classified daily intelligence briefing, known as “the book,” as President Obama.
The White House said Mr. Obama has directed that Mr. Trump have access to the Presidential Daily Briefing materials, an exclusive intelligence document with details of covert operations and other national-security information.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said “the book” is being made available to Mr. Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence “and a couple of designated members of his team.” Mr. Trump is meeting with Mr. Obama at the White House Thursday.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton received periodic intelligence briefings, but the Republican will now receive more detailed classified information that he needs to know in preparation for taking office in January.
The White House also said the administration is hosting two interagency exercises to “inform and familiarize the incoming administration on domestic incident management practices used by the current administration.”
“These exercises are designed to provide a high-level perspective on a series of challenges that the next administration may confront and to introduce the key authorities, policies, capabilities, and structures that are currently in place to respond to major domestic incidents,” the White House said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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