how to get rid of a president david priess

Others have remarked on volatility in American political development marked by critical elections when old structures are swept away and novel coalitions form to reconstitute major parties. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the eminent twentieth-century political scientist Sam Huntington called our spasms of doubt creedal passion periods. The human element painstakingly incorporated into President’s Book of Secrets serves a second purpose-of current relevance to the health of the intelligence profession and connected to a broader restoration of faith in American democracy. Reagan inscribes the kindergartner’s card with a thank you note of his own, and a photo of this remarkable correspondence appears on page 142. The Gipper is too exhausted to absorb the briefing but sharp enough to notice the bulge of get-well cards in his national security adviser’s folder, smuggled into the first national security session back from the hospital in partial fulfillment of a fatherly promise to the advisor’s kindergarten-age daughter. Priess takes us inside the presidential residence in April 1981 as Ronald Reagan recovers from an assassin’s bullet. We learn how one young analyst fought back morning sickness as she presented the president’s daily brief (PDB) to Al Gore in the back seat of the vice presidential limousine, Gore all the while scarfing down breakfast on his way to the White House.

He invites us with intimate details about the series of briefers passing the crown jewels of national intelligence to the commander in chief and a tight circle of advisers on a daily basis. Despite the enormity of the stakes, Priess ably draws upon his experience as a career CIA officer to craft a human tale across 10 administrations. Public Affairs, 2016, 386 pp.ĭavid Priess pulls back the veil on the President’s Book of Secrets to introduce a world where a single private conversation might make the difference between safety and national catastrophe. The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America’s Presidents from Kennedy to Obama by David Priess.

How to get rid of a president david priess