President-elect Donald Trump now has access to the nation's most closely guarded secrets through the President's Daily Briefing, an exclusive intelligence document tightly controlled by President Barack Obama, USA Today reported.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that Obama had ordered that the briefing materials — often called the PDB or simply "the book" — to be made available to Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence, "and a couple of designated members of his team."

Trump will have access to the PDB, but also "other intelligence materials," Earnest said, suggesting that the intelligence community will provide background information to help him catch up on intelligence Obama has already received.

The briefings for the new president-elect have not been required by law. But they've been provided by tradition by every president since Harry Truman, who reportedly was so upset about having been kept in the dark about the Manhattan Project that he vowed that no future president should have to enter the Oval Office without being up to speed on secret operations.

Source: MENA