The human side of intelligence: lessons from a presidential briefer

The President's Daily Brief is arguably the most sensitive document in American government. It’s a report, delivered in person every morning, updating the President on the most dangerous national security threats facing the nation. During President Obama’s first term, the person charged with delivering that report was a decorated career intelligence officer named James "Jim" Danoy – the first officer from outside the CIA ever trusted with that weighty task.

And Danoy got his start here, as a student at George Mason University.

Danoy’s path in national security didn’t begin in a situation room. It began in a classroom – the place where a young person first learns about thinking under pressure, judging information, weighing options, and making hard decisions. Now, as an adjunct faculty member at George Mason's Schar School of Policy and Government, Danoy is teaching students who are travelling the same path he did.

On this episode of Access to Excellence, Danoy discusses his career, as well as how judgment, character, and resilience can be taught, and whether we’re doing a good job of it.