Biden to receive top-secret US intelligence briefing for first time today

Joe Biden will receive his first classified presidential daily briefing (PDB) on Monday, the president-elect’s office has said.

In a short statement released on Sunday, Mr Biden’s office said that following the briefing he would meet with advisers.

The PDB, which a US president usually receives each morning, includes highly classified intelligence analysis and information about pressing national security matters from across the globe.

A president-elect would normally expect to receive the PDB as soon as the election was over, but Donald Trump’s attempts to cast doubts on Mr Biden’s election victory have contributed to delays in the usual transition process.

Until last week, Mr Biden was largely shut out of access to federal resources and funds usually handed to transition teams, but much of that changed when the General Services Administration (GSA) announced last Monday it had recognised Mr Biden as the apparent winner of November’s election.

Shortly after GSA chief Emily Murphy said she had come to her decision independently, Mr Trump tweeted to say he was “recommending” Ms Murphy cooperate on the transition, despite continuing to falsely claim he had won the election.

While Mr Biden will now get regular intelligence updates, Mr Trump reportedly ditched his briefings from a career analyst long before the election and instead opted to receive updates from political appointees.

In doing so, Mr Trump became the first president since Ronald Reagan not to regularly hear from his designated intelligence briefer. ?