President Barack Obama has missed more than half of his daily
intelligence briefings since he came into power, a new report shows.
Obama has been to less than 44 percent of the vital meetings, the White
House admits, with his attendance reaching a low spot towards the end of
2011 and the start of this year.
His predecessor, George W, Bush made a point of having the meetings six
days a week, and attending as many as possible, the American Enterprise
Institute fellow, Marc Thiessen reports in the Washington Post.
Obama’s attendance figures were prepared by the conservative Government
Accountability Institute, and were not disputed by the White House. At
one point he was attending fewer than two meetings out of five.
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Thiessen that
Obama’s attendance at the meetings was “not particularly interesting or
useful,” as he received written daily briefings. “The president gets the
information he needs from the intelligence community every day,” Vietor
said.
However, in January, the Post published an article, in which security
officials stressed the importance of the daily meetings. “One regular
participant in the roughly 500 Oval Office sessions during Obama’s
presidency said the meetings show a president consistently participating
in an exploration of foreign policy and intelligence issues,” that
piece said.
Thiessen’s Op-Ed says that the president’s personal attendance at the
briefings “is enormously important both for the president and those who
prepare the brief.”
“For the president, the meeting is an opportunity to ask questions of
the briefers, probe assumptions and request additional information,”
Thiessen writes.
“For those preparing the brief, meeting with the president on a daily
basis gives them vital, direct feedback from the commander in chief
about what is on his mind, how they can be more responsive to his needs,
and what information he may have to feed back into the intelligence
process.”
Thiessen adds, “This process cannot be replicated on paper.”
The week Before 9 11 Obama skipped the secirity meetings. Now a US Ambassador in Libya is DEAD. This blood is on Obama's hands... This is an asswipe... not a Commander in Chief!
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The week Before 9 11 Obama skipped the secirity meetings. Now a US Ambassador in Libya is DEAD. This blood is on Obama's hands... This is an asswipe... not a Commander in Chief!
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