Subject: nominees intelligence briefings
From: "Brinster, Jeremy" <[email-masked]>
To: "Dillon, Lauren" <[email-masked]>, "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>
Cc: RRResearch_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 12:27:23 -0700

Bottom line: Obama decides how sensitive the content of the briefings are and senior advisers have attended in the past, though it sounds like they need some kind of clearance. In the past nominees have had few briefings, largely because they are difficult to schedule / logistically arrange.

Daily Beast: "So Long As Both Trump And Clinton See The Same Things, Obama Could Effectively Limit Each Of Them To Benign Information That's Less Revealing That What They Might Read In A Newspaper." "But from nomination to election to inauguration, it's ultimately the president's call how much information the rivals for the Oval Office get to see. He can dial up or down the amount of classified information. So long as both Trump and Clinton see the same things, Obama could effectively limit each of them to benign information that's less revealing that what they might read in a newspaper." [Daily Beast, 5/5/16<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/05/spies-worry-candidate-trump-will-spill-secrets.html>]

Daily Beast: "Historically, Many [Presidential Nominees] Have Found The Demands Of The Campaign Trail Too Consuming To Take The Time Out To And Sit In A Secure Facility." "The candidates have some say in the process as well, namely, how many briefings they want to receive. Historically, many of them have found the demands of the campaign trail too consuming to take the time out to and sit in a secure facility. The candidates also cannot take staffers who don't have the proper security clearances into the room with them." [Daily Beast, 5/5/16<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/05/spies-worry-candidate-trump-will-spill-secrets.html>]

Daily Beast: Presidential Nominees "Cannot Take Staffers Who Don't Have The Proper Security Clearances Into The Room With Them." "The candidates have some say in the process as well, namely, how many briefings they want to receive. Historically, many of them have found the demands of the campaign trail too consuming to take the time out to and sit in a secure facility. The candidates also cannot take staffers who don't have the proper security clearances into the room with them." [Daily Beast, 5/5/16<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/05/spies-worry-candidate-trump-will-spill-secrets.html>]

Office Of The Director Of National Intelligence Spokesman Shawn Turner: "It's A Long-Standing Practice For Presidential Candidates And Select Advisers To Be Provided Intelligence Briefings Following The Party's Nominating Convention." "Mitt Romney does not currently receive national security briefings, his campaign confirmed to CBS News today. Typically, presidential candidates begin receiving briefings after securing their party's nomination, which Romney did in Tampa two weeks ago. 'It's a long-standing practice for presidential candidates and select advisers to be provided intelligence briefings following the party's nominating convention,' Shawn Turner, the spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told CNN in June. 'During the last presidential campaign, all the candidates began receiving briefings in September following the conventions.'" [CBS News, 9/12/12<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/romney-does-not-get-national-security-briefings/>]

CIA: Then-GOP Nominee Ronald Reagan Received A CIA Briefing In October 1980 "Accompanied By Vice-Presidential Candidate George Bush; His Transition Chief Of Staff Ed Meese; Campaign Director William Casey; And Richard Allen, His Adviser On National Security Matters." "Before the election, candidate Reagan received only one intelligence briefing. It was held on 4 October 1980 at Wexford, a borrowed country estate near Middleburg, Virginia, where the governor was staying for a period during the campaign. The DCI, Adm. Stansfield Turner, accompanied by three senior Agency officers, represented CIA. Reagan was accompanied by vice-presidential candidate George Bush; his transition chief of staff Ed Meese; campaign director William Casey; and Richard Allen, his adviser on national security matters." [Intelligence Briefings of the Presidential Candidates, 1952-2004, Central Intelligence Agency, May 2012<https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/getting-to-know-the-president/pdfs/U-%20Book-Getting%20to%20Know%20the%20President.pdf>]

CIA: Then-Democratic Nominee Michael Dukakis Received A CIA Briefing In August 1988 Accompanied By His Running Mate Lloyd Bentsen And National Security Adviser Madeleine Albright. "The Democratic candidate for president in 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, was offered intelligence support and agreed to receive one briefing on worldwide developments at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. The briefing was delivered on 22 August by CIA Director William Webster and his deputy, Robert Gates, whose most vivid memory of the occasion involved the difficulty the two had in reaching the Dukakis home...Senator Bentsen was not in the car but, as Dukakis's running mate, did attend the briefing. Dukakis had also invited Congressmen Louis Stokes and Lee Hamilton, successive chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee, and his adviser on security matters, Madeleine Albright. When the whole group assembled, there was a peculiar feeling; all of them save one knew each other well from their experience in working together on intelligence matters in the Congress or on the NSC staff. Dukakis was the odd man out." [Intelligence Briefings of the Presidential Candidates, 1952-2004, Central Intelligence Agency, May 2012<https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/getting-to-know-the-president/pdfs/U-%20Book-Getting%20to%20Know%20the%20President.pdf>]

CIA: "In Addition To The Governor, Campaign Advisers Condi Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, And Josh Bolton Attended" A September 2000 CIA Briefing For Then-GOP Nominee George W. Bush. "As it happened, the briefing of the governor was scheduled for 2 September. Tenet, however, was centrally involved in extended diplomatic negotiations related to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and was traveling in the Middle East in early September. As a result, it fell to Tenet's deputy, McLaughlin, to prepare the briefing and deliver it in Texas...The briefing was held in a casual setting on a Saturday morning in the living room of the modest, original Prairie View home on Bush's ranch at Crawford. In addition to the governor, campaign advisers Condi Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and Josh Bolton attended. Rice and Wolfowitz asked a number of substantive questions and requested occasional clarifications to highlight a particular point or ensure an area they were interested in was sufficiently covered. All the briefers observed and later remarked, however, that the governor was clearly in charge "from moment one." From the Intelligence Community side, the team included, in addition to McLaughlin, three senior analysts and managers with expertise in Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East. McLaughlin himself was a longtime expert in European and Russian issues. The plan was for McLaughlin to deliver a comprehensive overview of the international situation using a series of desktop tent graphics that he would display and flip over as he progressed. The three experts would then join him in fielding questions during a discussion period. Governor Bush listened politely to the first few sentences, then made clear with his preemptive questioning that he was not taken with this painfully systematic approach." [Intelligence Briefings of the Presidential Candidates, 1952-2004, Central Intelligence Agency, May 2012<https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/getting-to-know-the-president/pdfs/U-%20Book-Getting%20to%20Know%20the%20President.pdf>]

In 2004, Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards Received One CIA Briefing In Which His Staff Participated. "In 2004, the George W. Bush administration followed the well-established tradition and approved briefings for Senators John Kerry and John Edwards. Each candidate received two briefings. Presidential candidate Kerry was briefed on 1 September in Nashville and on 25 September in Boston. Vice presidential candidate Edwards was briefed on 31 August in Wilkes-Barre, and on a second occasion at his home in Washington, DC...The briefings of Senator Edwards were considerably more relaxed than those of Kerry, and did not run as long. CIA briefers were pleased the first session occurred at all, as they heard Edwards tell his staff as he approached the briefing room at the hotel, 'I know I have to do this, but I will get it over with quick and we can go for pizza.' In the event, Edwards gave the briefing team a generous amount of time, and the session, although conversational, was interactive and substantive. Edwards's staff participated more fully in the back and forth than did Kerry's, where one accompanying staff member limited his role to asking a few questions to clarify particular points." [Intelligence Briefings of the Presidential Candidates, 1952-2004, Central Intelligence Agency, May 2012<https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/getting-to-know-the-president/pdfs/U-%20Book-Getting%20to%20Know%20the%20President.pdf>]