The President's Daily Briefing is a document that gives the President the current status of top secret information from around the various security agencies in the USA.
Past-Presidents have the right to get that document, as well.
George HW Bush gets all of them, and devours them, apparently.
Jimmy Carter still gets updates on the Middle East.
Donald Trump will also have access to these documents... as will his family...
A quick Google search of the "Presidential Daily Briefing" is really all you need. There's great wikipedia stuff on it, an official government page about it, plus a number of recent articles on who gets to see it and why. There were something like 30 Obama staffers that received it. Some Presidents attended every PDB personally, some rarely. The articles tend to take polar opposite views on the contents: either it is a Top Secret document (it actually is) that holds all the secrets to our national security, or it is a bland daily task that just tells you what changed in the Middle East (for example) from yesterday. That's why Trump doesn't read or attend the briefings; he says he "... doesn't need people telling him the same thing every day for 8 years."
There is no absolute rule/line that says they do get it; there are stories and sidenotes that make it clear that this is done, though. First, the President has Top Secret clearance, that is not revoked automatically upon their departure from the office. The incoming President can revoke their Top Secret status, but nobody has. It's useful to have past Presidents close by for advice and consultation on issues they are particularly well-versed in, so maintaining their Top Secret clearance is normal. Second, anyone with Top Secret clearance can request a debrief from the CIA, whenever they want. The CIA produces the PDB, and the same individuals who produce and present the PDB content are the ones that would debrief the Top Secret clearance holder who made the request. Third, people like George HW Bush was said to get it every day, and "read it religiously". Now he was also head of the CIA prior to becoming President, so this was His Thang. So naturally he kept his mind busy with the thing he was passionate about. Fourth, is has been noted that other Presidents - like Bush 43 - never asked for it, after leaving office. This mention alone indicates there is some expectation that it is normal for a past President to request briefings. Fifth, there was some uproar over Obama getting debriefs after he left office that let a bit of the unspoken gentlemen's agreement between past Presidents out into the light. Trump lied about it to cover the fact Obama still has access to this data/analysis, but it doesn't change the fact that Obama still had access to this information after he left office. (I expect Trump lied about this to cover his own ass, and nefarious intents for what he plans to do with the information once he is out of office.) So, in short, my title might have been more precisely accurate if I'd gone with something like: "Past Presidents retain their Top Secret clearance after leaving office, unless it is revoked by the incoming President, and as an individual with Top Secret clearance they have the right to request either the PDB or a debrief by the CIA officers who create the PDB, however this right has not always been exercised by past Presidents." (This CIA analysis of the PDB is a pretty good source for how it is created and given to the President. But it does not go into how the document is shared with anyone BUT the President.)
"Security clearances are not mandated for the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, or other constitutional officers." Source: Congressional Research Service Security Clearance Process: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Can you provide a source for this information? More than a million people hold a TS. Source: Office of Management and Budget, 2014 Suitability and Security Security Processes Review (Table 1) "The PDB is produced by the director of national intelligence" Source: wikipedia stuff Is John Ratcliffe on call to debrief any of these million TS holders on request? Source: Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush This passage is mentioned in the discussion page of the Wikipedia article when the statement "Former Presidents are entitled to receive the PDB" was removed for lack of evidence in March 2013. One could speculate just as easily that he didn't request it because he didn't expect to receive the PDB after leaving office. Without a source, we have no way to judge. The New Yorker, source for the Newsweek article, claims that "some of Trump’s most fervent supporters in the White House" and "some of the new President’s advisers" suggested revoking security clearances of former president Obama and his officials to prevent "access to intelligence briefings that were made available to all of his living predecessors." I see no evidence that these briefings are the same as the PDB, or that they are available to anyone with Top Secret clearance who requests them. I think a responsible title would be "Former presidents can get intelligence briefings." Anyone can request whatever they want, but I don't see any way to even request access to the PDB. Sorry for the aggressive fact-checking, but I think these days concern for truth is more important than ever. As the CIA says in a source available to all, "Verify. Verify. Verify."First, the President has Top Secret clearance
Second, anyone with Top Secret clearance can request a debrief from the CIA
The CIA produces the PDB, and the same individuals who produce and present the PDB content are the ones that would debrief the Top Secret clearance holder who made the request.
Third, people like George HW Bush was said to get it every day
Bush inhaled the daily CIA briefings sent to former presidents, and he remained addicted to the news, following it while restricting his commentary to close friends.
Fourth, is has been noted that other Presidents - like Bush 43 - never asked for it, after leaving office. This mention alone indicates there is some expectation that it is normal for a past President to request briefings.
Fifth, there was some uproar over Obama getting debriefs after he left office
It doesn't seem that they do get the PDB. https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/49581/do-former-us-presidents-have-the-right-to-receive-daily-cia-briefings Apparently they can request classified material, but I couldn't find evidence that they get the PDB, only that they don't.
Trump doesn't get or read briefings now, so not sure how this will change much.
Law and custom? There was no law against running for president as many terms as you wanted until FDR won a third and fourth term. At that point, the custom of only running two terms was permanently enshrined into law. Retired intelligence officials customarily retain their security clearances unless there are reasons for them not to. There is no law insisting on their right. As former presidents are often diplomatically handy to keep around, it makes sense to retain their security clearance. Much of the behind-the-scenes negotiations with North Korea were accomplished by Clinton and Clinton's officials well into Obama's second term, for example. However, there's nothing that says they have to keep them. Trump yanked John Brennan's security clearance over a Twitter slapfight. Pretty sure that was just a straight-up executive order, no congressional oversight necessary. And considering how angry Brennan is most of the time, I doubt he would have let it stand if he had any recourse. Should we ever make it out of this alive, I suspect that a lot of the customs we've banked on to keep our executive branch in order will become laws, much like we gained the 22nd Amendment shortly after FDR passed. One of The Week's columnists observed that so much of our governance is dictated by custom, not law, and that Trump's entire power is his utter disregard for custom. However, it would be the mildest break of custom, and no violation of law, to yank the security clearances of every single person associated with this administration the minute his successor's hand leaves the bible on Inauguration Day.
If Dems win the Senate and the Presidency they will be passing a lot of laws very quickly. What they need is a commission on hucksterism and abuse of power so that they can craft laws that make it very difficult for anyone to do this ever again. I think where they'll run into problems is trying to legislate some independence at the Justice Dept. The Courts have basically said that every political appointee works for the president and can be fired at will, and that this is baked into the constitution. No matter how big a wave the Dems can pull off I just think the Big Sort has more or less made new constitutional amendments DOA for the time being. I think where they can have a big impact is in disclosure laws, nepotism laws, limiting executive fiat, and so on. And yes, Trump has shown that the president has the full authority to ban (or grant) any security clearance he pleases, and there's no other sane person in America who would give Kushner security clearance. Trump's own DoJ told Kush to fuck off until he intervened. Even if they didn't revoke Big Don's credentials, he would no longer have the right to declassify whatever he wants willy nilly as he can now. We're going to have a lot of spring cleaning in 2021, god willing.
There is no doubt Trump will make use of the information, share it with his cronies, and let national secrets slip out of his fat face while golfing at Mar-a-lago... I mean, he can't NOT share privileged information... it's what he does. The issue is that Trump is an unwitting Putin stooge. Putin has him so surrounded by embedded ears, that Jared and Don Jr and Ivanka will absolutely share the top secret info they are privy to with their Russian friends and connections... who all work directly for Putin's machine. So the next President goes back to George Bush's in-person-only PDBs? No documentary evidence to be shared? They stonewall Trump when he asks for the PDB, because nowhere is it enshrined that his request to see it be granted? It is a REQUEST. Not a requirement. It's troubling that Trump's cronies have a direct pipeline to Top Secret security clearance information for the remainder of Trump's pathetic life, even after he leaves office. The swamp is inside now, and we can't get rid of them.
I genuinely believe that Trump is a puppet of Putin, and I also genuinely believe Trump himself has no idea. When shown the actual numbers of deaths of Americans due to COVID, in that Aussie interview last week, he was genuinely flummoxed for a moment. I believe he had never seen that information. His aides don't tell him anything he doesn't want to hear, and only tell him good news. ALL of his aides and family are completely compromised by Russia and China, however. So the ONLY information Trump acts on (outside of Fox News) is the bad information, fed to his closest team, by the Russian operatives running them. I don't think Trump has any idea that he is completely under Putin's thumb. Seriously.
I don't doubt that any of this is true. I want to believe it isn't true. I secretly hope this is true. It reads like an amazing spy novel... or like a season of The Americans on a much more insidious level. If it is even 10% true, our republic is in more trouble than any of us realize.
US History classes in 15 years are going to be REEEEEAAAAALLLY interesting. I kinda expect the whole Trump cadre to move out of the US at some point in the next few years, to a place that is more "friendly" to their type of business dealings and friends. Oh Don Jr and Ivanka and the rest of the reprobates will still nominally have addresses in NYC, and gladly accept checks from Trump properties in the US... but I expect they will live the majority of their time outside of the US borders. In ... erm ... "friendlier" territories ... That's the model many ex-Dictator's families follow....
I certainly hope so... but my experience 30 years ago didn't include Japanese internment camps, Black Wall Street, or Stonewall... so I have little hope that 15 years will be enough time for dust to settle and truth to come out.US History classes in 15 years are going to be REEEEEAAAAALLLY interesting.
Same with me... but I think information is different nowadays. We are no longer solely beholden to the view of a couple of Texas conservatives who approve all history books in the USA. Once Trump dies, I expect the FOIA requests will come fast and hard, and we will see some really interesting analyses of the full scope of his misdeeds, who were his accomplices, and the organizations that worked behind the scenes to control him... Heck, we already have much of that for Paul Manafort, who was Trump's fixer in Russia...
I will agree with you that Trump doesn't think he's a puppet. He definitely does what he can for his good buddies the Russians, though. Dubinin himself arranged his first visit. I'm also entirely certain that Melania Trump is an FSB asset and has been since college. I doubt she's the only hot Slavic girl the FSB dangled in front of Donald Trump but she's the one that stuck. In exchange for tempting American businessmen her family got visas and she probably got an allowance until someone took the bait. But they've got something on Trump, too. He's a man of pure Id between a carrot and a stick.
It's worth pointing out that George H Bush went from being a representative to being ambassador to the UN to being chairman of the RNC to being ambassador to China to being the Director of Central Intelligence to being the Vice President to being the President. He was head spook during Operation Condor and the guy on whose watch the Shah fell. There's been a real drive to effeminate the guy but he landed on a carrier 128 times and propped up Pinochet. I'll bet he read the PDBs avidly.