Presidential Daily Briefings Have Been Declassified Before

Salon.com > The President's Daily Brief Coverup

Actually, ten President's Daily Briefs are in the public domain, officially declassified by the U.S. government. (Note 4) The CIA established the PDB under that name in 1964, and PDBs from the Johnson administration began to be declassified in 1985, during the tenure of President Reagan. The ten declassified PDBs contain such extraordinarily sensitive items as this one on Egypt: "Nasir, in a speech to the nation on Saturday, outlined a 'program of action' to bring about political reform. We doubt that it will amount to much." That's the whole item. Another supersensitive entry concerns the head of state of Indonesia: "Despite Sukarno's long-standing kidney ailment, for which he delays proper treatment, he has seemed quite chipper lately." Three lines of the item are blacked out since they refer to the sources of intelligence, perhaps Indonesian assets of the CIA, or communications intercepts, or maybe just the British ambassador. One of the PDBs is even published in the latest volume of the distinguished State Department documentary series, Foreign Relations of the United States.

So what's the big deal? Release the August 6, 2001 PDB already.

Unless there's something really revealing in that PDB:

Bin Laden Determined To Strike Inside The United States

Once upon a time there was a bad man named Osama bin Laden. He hated America major-league bad. He still does!

We keep hearing that he's sent some of his mean friends to attack us. This would be major-league bad if they weren't such wusses!

Remember when the World Trade Center was bombed? That was them! Stupid Bill Clinton.

One time we heard that they were planning to hijack planes. I wonder what they would do with planes? It would probably be real bad. They're terrible pilots.

Do you want us to keep our eyes peeled for any new information on bin Laden and his meanies? Mark one: Yes or No

The truth will out.