Why US President-Elect Donald Trump Is Reluctant On Attending Intelligence Briefings

Over the past several years, presidents and state officials have been briefed about the matters of national security by the intelligence agencies. This practice is in the best interest of the country and is an undeniable responsibility of the government and mostly of the President.

According to RTE, in comparison to predecessors, Donald Trump's attendance of intelligence briefing meetings is pretty low. Reports are saying that the President-elect had only two intelligence briefings since after the elections. Experts are pointing at Trump's limited understanding of such an important issue.

The daily briefings include documents of classified national security details, to provide an oversight to the president-elect on development in security and the U.S. defense system. On the other hand, the vice-president to be, Mike Pence, has been receiving national security details on a daily basis.

Even though Trump's been busy with the transition team in the selection of the administration team, using it as an excuse to ignore classified briefings is ridiculous in the view of critics. The Washington Post also added that Trump is lagging in the security matters and has a lot to go through on the briefings.

The president-elect's transition team, however, declared that no such issue exists and security matters remained among the top priorities. The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. David Nines strongly dismissed the accusations on Trump being irresponsible, saying whatever Trump has done until now, whether it's a meet up with the leaders or selection of the staff, national security has always been there in the discussions.

It is interesting that Trump's earlier interviews state the otherwise. In an interview with FOX News before the first intelligence briefing, Trump showed distrust in the intelligence experts. Trump, who is soon going to acquire office, is severely criticized for the lack of knowledge on foreign policy, on Jihadist groups, and other socio-political matters.