Israel Matzav

Obama ditches iPad for live intelligence briefings

After coming under heavy criticism for skipping his daily intelligence briefings, President Obama has been attending them... for the last four days.

But now, in an apparent 180-degree reversal, the White House official calendar shows that for the last four days Mr. Obama has ditched his iPad and has instead opted for the live briefings.

That's a good thing.  As Mr. Thiessen explains, the live briefings are far preferred over the written daily intel reports, because they offer presidents and their advisors an opportunity to drill down into intelligence threats and to challenge assumptions.  "This process cannot be replicated on paper," says Mr. Thiessen. 

Still, Mr. Carney owes Mr. Thiessen an apology.  Carney said Thiessen's report was "hilarious" and flippantly dismissed the need for Mr. Obama to attend live intelligence briefings.  Then, after four Americans were murdered and Mr. Obama's foreign policy approval rating plunged, Mr. Obama has now decided to actually start showing up for his daily presidential intelligence briefings, just as Mr. Thiessen urged him to do. 

At least someone in the media is doing their job

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, intelligence

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:09 PM