The President's Daily Brief - July 22nd, 2022. Special Brief: Audience Questions

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

It’s July 22nd. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ On Monday of this week, I issued you all a challenge: Write to me with your questions about any topic, any place in the world. And even questions about me. I wanted to give you a chance to peak behind the podcast and learn more about how I bring you the PDB each day at 6am.  Well boy oh boy did y’all write. Lots of questions about my time in the CIA, how the podcast got its start // and plans for its future. You asked about Afghanistan, and a whole lot about China.  And one of you asked something really important: how do you, as a listener out there in America, make a difference? Because sometimes it just seems overwhelming, and a bit hopeless. Well my friends, we’re going to cover all of that. Plus a few fun surprises. All up next on this special edition of the President’s Daily Brief. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's July 22nd. You're listening to a special edition of the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. On Monday of this week, I issued you all a challenge. Write to meet with your questions about any topic, any place in the world, and even questions about me. I wanted to give you all a chance to peek behind the podcast and learn more about not just me, but how I bring you all the PDB each day at 6 a.m. Well, boy oh boy did you all write. Lots of questions about my time in the CIA, how the podcast got its start and plans for its future. You also asked about Afghanistan and a whole bunch about China. And one of you asked something that I think is really important. How do you as a listener out there in America make a difference? Because sometimes it just feels overwhelming and, well, a bit hopeless. So my friends, we're going to cover all of that, plus a few fun surprises.

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Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip. right. Kayak. Got that right. All right, my friends, you wrote hundreds of questions, and we're going to get to some of them today. So first, let's talk about the CIA, with thanks to Doug and Jonathan, Jackie, Tiffany,

Pamela, Marcy, and Joseph for all of the great questions. You asked how I got started at the CIA, and what exactly did I do? So I applied at CIA.gov, no kidding, back in the late 1990s. And I had these visions of being a James Bond character and traveling the world. And I thought I might be competitive because I had spent some time abroad volunteering in some unusual places, like the former Yugoslavia right after the Civil War there ended in the mid-1990s. So I figured, why not me? Well, the CIA didn't call back, at least not right away. But a couple of years later, in January of 2000, I got a call completely out of the blue.

And they asked me some basic questions. and when I realized who it was I was talking to, I got very nervous. But regardless, that started a couple-year-long process. Now, I was supposed to start in November of 2001, but on September 11th, I was at home at my family's ranch, and my dad woke me up. All he said was something terrible has happened. And he and I went into the living room together,

and we watched the nightmare on TV, with the towers fall into the ground. I was shocked and angry like probably everyone else in this country, but perhaps somewhat unusually, I knew that my life would never be the same. So a couple of months later, I started as a CIA trainee, and one of my first bosses was a woman named Jennifer Matthews. She was later killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, and it wasn't just her. Some of my fellow trainees were killed, too.

There was a young man named Darren in particular who stands out. to not just me, but a lot of my former classmates. He was an absolutely incredible man. But the point is that there was a lot of sacrifice when we first started. We were given a ton of responsibility because there were just too many threats and we didn't have enough intel on who these terrorists were and where they would strike next. And it was overwhelming. So we sacrificed a lot.

We put in crazy hours. We gave up birthday parties and weddings and vacations because it was an all hands-on-deck situation. So I remember very vividly one day going through some captured material that we had gotten. And, well, without going to the details here, there were a bunch of set of numbers and a diary. Now, Jennifer asked me to figure out what one set of numbers in particular could possibly mean. So I started playing with these numbers, subtracting one or adding one, coming up with different combinations, and then doing searches on all those different sets of numbers. Now, that's a job that's normally reserved for a cryptology.

who are very smart people who decode things. But there was just too much work and not enough people, so I got thrown in on that job. Well, a few days later, by frankly sheer luck and, okay, some hard work, I figured out that in this diary was a hidden phone number, to a very particular place belonging to what we later found out to be a very nasty man. And I can say, thankfully, that he is no longer on this planet.

Anyway, after that experience and a lot of other incredible ones, I started through a very, pretty serious long training program. And there's actually a book about my class. It's called Class 11, if anybody is interested in reading it. I have some pretty good memories in there. But once I graduated, I served as what's called an operations officer, which basically means that I recruited spies and stole secrets. I also served in a targeting role, which means that I helped the operations officers find

the spies to recruit. And then towards the end of my time at the agency, I worked on some special projects that were focused on stopping nuclear weapons programs. One of you asked what the scariest moment was that I had as an officer. Well, I can't go into details, but there was a counterterrorism case that I was involved in where I had to meet someone, in other words, an asset or an agent, that the CIA hadn't seen in a very long time. And we were worried that he had switched teams. In other words, he had become a terrorist instead of trying to stop them. Well, as I was meeting him, he was supposed to do certain things to make sure that everyone and everything was safe, that he was who he said he was. I can't really tell you that exact process, but the bottom line is that he failed in two instances.

Now, technically, I wasn't supposed to meet him because of those failures, because of the risks, but perhaps foolishly, I decided to go ahead. Now, I'll tell you why. I wasn't married first and second I had no kids and I figured you know if I die then I die for my country and there is no more honorable way to go but if I don't die then maybe we get some good intelligence well I'm happy to report that I didn't die and we got some pretty good stuff by the way the asset didn't actually fail

in the way that I thought he did because it turns out that I had to judge him based on bad information that was given to me by an officer who used to meet with this fellow. So even CIA officers make mistakes. Now, some of you also asked how long I was in and why I left. So to that first question, the math gets a little fuzzy here on purpose, and I'll just say around 10 years. But why did I leave?

Two reasons. The first was to work in the private sector and raise some money for my brother's medical needs. And I did that, and he's better. The second reason was that I had become pretty disillusioned, at how the agency was being run. Because remember, when I first started, we were all about mission. The country had just been attacked and could be again at any moment. There was no time for non-mission-related silliness.

But by late 2015, when I left, that wasn't true anymore. There was lots of bureaucracy, a shocking number of colleagues who were focused on promotions and titles and turf rather than mission. And in a couple of big cases, some of my... colleagues were actually lying to CIA leadership in the White House about stuff that I unfortunately can't go into. But I just decided I was not going to be a part of that anymore. But then as now, I remain honored that I was able to be of service to my country because I learned so much about how the world works. I mean, remember, I grew up in rural Oregon and Idaho. My family had been

farmers and ranchers since the 1600s. We came across and first landed in Massachusetts, then went on to New York, Michigan, Indiana, eventually across the Oregon Trail, and we settled in eastern Oregon in 1872, where we have been since. So how lucky was I, this farm kid? You know, I got a chance to be a CIA officer recruiting spies and stealing secrets and traveling the world. All in all, I'm incredibly grateful for the experience. I'm just perhaps a touch jaded.

All right, moving on to the next couple of questions. several of you asked how I got exposed to the world of media if I was this very hidden super secret spy. Well, I was planning to leave the CIA in late 2015, and a buddy of mine who had survived the 9-11 attacks on the Pentagon was working with Larry King. And he asked if I would come on and talk about terrorism and North Korea. Well, working with him was another fellow named Dave Rubin, and some of you might know him from the Rubin Report. And those two interviews, one with Larry King and one with Dave Rubin, kickstarted what was a very unexpected journey into media. I wrote a couple pieces for the LA Times and then a lot for Fox News, and then I started going on TV, which was really strange because I was trained to avoid cameras.

But here we are, seven years later, and here I am with you on a podcast. Speaking of, how did this president's daily brief start? That question came from a listener named Sean. So I was on Jesse Kelly's show, and some of you know him, he's an absolute incredible guy, and he knew that his company, called The First, was looking to do a morning news podcast called The President's Daily Brief. Now, Jesse recommended me to the first last March, and after a number of conversations, we decided to give you all five key things that fit with the spirit of the actual President's daily brief.

First, it was news that you probably hadn't heard before, or analysis. that's unique. Second, a real emphasis on why you should care, you know, why it matters to you. Third, what you and I and all of us can do to solve problems wherever possible. Fourth, focus on international events, but try to hit domestic stuff too. And then finally, fifth, try to keep it as nonpartisan as possible. And frankly, sometimes that's hard for me to do. But ultimately, I need to let you decide. So those five things, that's our secret sauce. Now, do I do all five of those things perfectly every show? Well, probably not.

But I sure try. And I will say, when I fall short, you all email me and tell me to knock it off, especially with the opinion. It's true, and I love it. You all keep me honest. Now, if you noticed something there, I keep referring to I or me. So Clarissa and Steve, both listeners, asked, what support staff do I have? Well, I have an amazing producer, Eric, who edits out all of my mistakes.

Bless him, I don't give him an easy job. But in terms of staff to select possible briefs, to research, to write, that's just me. I am a staff of one. And each show, for what it's worth, takes me anywhere from 10 to sometimes 17 hours in a day to put together. So if sometimes you hear me with a froggy throat or I seem a little bit tired, well, I probably am. a bit and now you know why. But here's the good news and there's actually two things. One,

even when I'm tired, I get filled with so much happiness knowing that I help you make sense of the world just a little bit better than before. Some of you are using this podcast in your homeschools. Some of you are using it to make you smarter at work. And some because, well, and I love this,

you're bored on your lawnmower and you've got to listen to something and I love all of it. Now, the second bit of good news here, other than me feeling very happy to be a part of your lives, is that we are growing like a little weed. We started with zero listeners in April. And now we have literally tens of thousands of people every day tuning in. And that's incredible, truly. We are knocking the socks off of where we thought we would be. And that, by the way, is because you all are telling people about the PDB. That's why I thank you

guys so often for helping. This is becoming your show. Yes, I put it together, but it's based on your feedback and your promotion to your friends and your family. So sincerely, this is your show. To that end, Roberta and others asked, have we thought about a Saturday show where I interview a special guest about a brief from earlier in the week? Or of course, the newsletter, or a YouTube show, maybe just a live stream of me on the family ranch hanging out with the cows. So yes, yes, and yes. Okay, so the more nuanced answer, it's really a question of resources. We are exploring a few different things. So a subscription model, or maybe you all toss a dollar or two each month to help us out. We're also building relationships with potential advertisers, companies and products that I believe in

that I could offer up to you all for consideration. Regardless, we'll eventually get those resources and grow even bigger, so stay tuned. But I will tell you that my North Star, no matter what we become, is I want to keep giving you value in the shortest period of time possible because I know that you all are busy. And with that, we're going to take a break. Up next, your questions on Afghanistan, China, and whether I'd ever serve as CIA director. All coming up next on this special edition

of the President's Daily Brief. Hey, honey, it's mom. Did you know if we switch to Verizon we can get four phones for $0,000 plus four lines for $25 a line? Call me back. Me again. That's just $100 a month for four lines on Unlimited Welcome. Plus four phones, no trade in needed.

call me. It's mom. America's Best Network, Verizon. That's the one we're talking about. I'll send you text. America's Best Network based on Root Metrics, Best Overall Mobile Network Performance, U.S. 2nd Half 2025, four new lines and a limit and welcome and auto pay. See Verizon.com for details. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle. Welcome back to this special edition of the president's daily brief. I'm taking your questions about a whole host of things. And up next are about a few countries.

So first, Afghanistan. A listener, Terry, asked, what has happened with the military equipment that we left behind after the Taliban took over Afghanistan? Is it still there? And is it being used or has it been sold off? Well, Terry, of course, is asking about the equipment and the weaponry that was originally provided to the Afghan security forces by using.

the taxpayers at a cost of $83 billion over two decades of war. So here's what we know. The Taliban has kept most of the bigger stuff. You know, the A-29 aircraft, the Humvees, and all sorts of ammo and higher caliber guns. But a whole bunch of the small arms and ammo and some gear can actually right now be bought on the streets of Kabul. Plus, it's being shipped into neighboring Pakistan or you can buy it secretly there, too.

For what it's worth, the Afghan buyers tend to be mostly locals who want the stuff for self-defense or to settle tribal feuds. Now, popular items include the American M4, and that's a weapon that goes for about $4,000 bucks on the street. There's a Beretta M9, and that goes for around $1,500, and then simple NATO pistols around $350, $400. The Pakistan market, it's a little bit different. They want all those same things, but more gear like NightVisier.

goggles and radios and bigger caliber weapons like the 50 cows. But who are those buyers in Pakistan? Well, have any of you ever watched that scene out of Star Wars at the canteena with all the crazy assortment of characters? Well, there is your buyer in Pakistan. It's anybody and everybody and none of them are up to any good. By the way, if you wonder why I've focused so much on the billions in weaponry that we're pouring into Ukraine with no tracking and a country with a long hill.

history of selling guns on the black market? Well, this legacy in Afghanistan is part of the reason why. Next up, China. Jeremy wants to know, are we going to go to war with Beijing? The answer, Jeremy, is that we already are. I can't talk a lot about what's happening in the world of spies and clandestine operations, but you can imagine that perhaps there might be something. But I think what Jeremy is really asking here is, are we going to go to the conventional, kinetic type of war with China, you know, tanks and planes and bombs. You know, I don't know, and I hope not, but I suspect that yes, we will. And that's because China has global ambitions. They want to control the world. It's no different than the British Empire or Alexander the Great, although how they control

the world probably looks different. So Beijing likes quiet power to control things from behind the scenes with puppets, like using bribes in Africa to gain access to cobalt, mines or issuing so much debt to countries like Sri Lanka that it forces them into bankruptcy. And then in turn, the Sri Lankans have to give up deep water ports to make good on their debt. And yes, that happened. It was a part of China's strategy. But to really take control of the world, China needs us out of the way. But rather than attack us outright, they're weakening us first.

They're hacking our industries. They're stealing our technology. and they're recruiting our people as spies. Perhaps someday we will have an honest accounting of how many of our people are Chinese spies, most especially at the CIA and the FBI and within our military. And I should add, our elected leaders on Capitol Hill. Now, I can't prove how many people China has recruited in our halls of power, but I know that the FBI opens a counterintelligence case against China-related concerns

once every 12 hours of every day. Now, you can't convince me that with that kind of volume, some of China's targets aren't our leaders in D.C. So that's going to make it really hard to fight back, whether it be an economic war, a clandestine war, or a conventional war. That's because they'll know what we're planning to do before we actually do it. Their spies will tell them. But we can fight back, and the path to do that is actually from the past.

there was a man named Elliot Ness who lived in Chicago in the 1930s, and he had a very hard job to bring down Al Capone. Now, if you recall your history, Capone was a bootlegor who made millions running illegal booze amongst other things, and he could because Chicago's cops were notoriously corrupt. Capone had, well, basically all of them on his payroll. So Elliot Ness did what any smart man in his position would have to do. he built a team of untouchables or officers that couldn't be broken by greed and he was successful Elliot Ness brought down Al Capone certainly a big part of it I think that that's what we're

going to have to do again we're going to have to select a group of untouchable men and women to conduct first secret corruption investigations in America and second a group to execute covert operations against enemies like China and we have to do all of that before we ever think about going to war with China. Because without this cleanup job, I suspect that we would lose before we ever got started. All right, one more China question, and I absolutely love this one. A listener named Kendall wrote, you talked about China's zero COVID policy, creating a unique opportunity for American corporations to bring their manufacturing plants and jobs back to the U.S. My question is, what can the average American consumer do to encourage and help bring these plants and jobs back?

to our country. Ah, this is such a good one. So let's talk solutions. Do you remember the brief where I talked about the shoe company that opened a small factory in El Paso? Well, as a reminder, there was a fellow out of New York who wanted to open up a factory to expand production. Now, most of his current business at the time was mostly in Turkey, but he had a really hard time finding somewhere in the United States that would make his shoes. And that's because most of our shoe industry got shipped to Asia years ago. But he found that. El Paso, and he built a factory around it, all because they have a very long history of working with leather to make boots and saddles. So the lesson is this. Every city and every county in this

country has something unique about it, the people, the history, the colleges, the trade schools, the current companies, the old ones, and then even things that you wouldn't think about, like weather, access to unique lands or bodies of water. So your challenge, Kendall, and frankly, all of us, is to get together with your neighbors, your chambers of commerce, your churches, your bowling clubs, whatever. And you figure out what about your city or your county is special, different than anybody else, and then tie that to an industry. And over time and with hard work, that builds an ecosystem of the people on the technology

and the material that attracts all kinds of entrepreneurs and businesses, including the ones in China. In other words, the idea here is that you're not begging these companies to come home. You offer them value, and they'll come home when they see it. But let's say, Kendall, that you don't think your community has much to offer, not like a leather industry like El Paso has. Well, I want to give you an example of how you two can be successful, even with not much to start with. There's a city in northern Idaho called Cordillane.

Probably 10 years ago or so, a handful of locals started meeting, once a week in a coffee shop, trying to figure out a way to bring in more economic activity, more businesses, not businesses from China, but just completely start anew. Now, I should say that these handful of locals weren't fancy people. They were retirees, students from local state college, a couple of local business owners. There was a pastor and a couple of his parishioners, some stay-at-home moms. And even a couple of guys in their 30s were living in their parents' basements. but they all had one thing in common.

They loved their town, and they were passionate about bringing it alive. And, okay, it's true, those guys in the basement were just sort of bored. But still, they asked themselves two questions. First, what are we good at? And if nothing, what could we be good at? As they answered those questions, they conducted kind of a town audit of sorts. In Cortaline, they knew that they had a trade school, and it had a wood and metal shop where people could build things.

Next, they have lots of retirees with incredible corporate backgrounds and networks, and they had a very big lake. Well, they decided two things. First, they wanted to start a robotics program plus software coding. And second, they figured that they could probably get the city to open up the skies over the lake for drone testing. Now, those were sort of crazy ideas, at least to begin with. Ten years later, they found success. they got Apple to come in and offer up coding classes. They convinced the University of Idaho to start up a robotics program.

And they recruited a drone company to set up shop and test over the lake. Now, two success stories to tell you. First, they had a guy who designed an automated bread maker, inspired by the robotics program, and he started a company that's made millions. They also had a roofer who had an idea for a special kind of glue that he wanted to use in his trade. Now, that had nothing to do with robots or drones, but he was inspired by the group and he started dreaming aloud.

Well, the group consisted of some retirees who were very successful and bored out of their minds. And they knew people who knew a chemist. And together, this group helped that roofer start a company. And he has made tens of millions of dollars off of this glue. Now, what's really great about this group, they now have a dedicated building with little offices that you can rent out. They've got a drone company in the basement and a great coffee shop and a barber shop. Plus, and this is neat, monthly fireside chats with people from around the world who come in to inspire people or help budding entrepreneurs with business plans or personal finance. It's just a really neat, inspiring place to be.

But remember, all of that started not with a government agency or some big grant. Not even fancy people. It was just normal folks. So the point of all of this is to say two things. back to Kendall's question. We can and should push our national and state leaders to attract businesses back to America, like with competitive tax rates or low energy costs

and reasonable regulations. And maybe even slap on some tariffs for countries who are cheating or their labor and environmental laws give them an unfair advantage. But more than that, there's something that you can do to start building that attractive ecosystem like El Paso or Cordillane. Start like they did in northern Ireland. Idaho with some weekly coffee meetings with friends and neighbors from bowling leagues to churches. Now, man, don't forget the poor guys in the basements. But above all, bring that passion and

the creative thinking to your community. And I'm telling you, with some time and hard work, you'll be surprised at what you and your community can do. Because this fight really isn't about China at the end of the day. It's a fight to remind ourselves that we are great, that no matter how much we struggle or are down on our luck. Greatness is still running through our American veins in towns big and small, with skin black and white and in people who live in fancy houses and trailer houses. So Kendall, that's my challenge to you this morning and to everybody else. We don't need to wait for anyone to fix things. We can do it. And we should. One more final question before I let you go.

Listener, Jake, you asked if I would ever serve as CIA director. Oh, Jake. I left the swamp and I do not want to go back. But, if asked, I would lead the untouchables, the ones that I mentioned earlier.

But I'll tell you, we would operate out of my family's ranch and you would never hear from me again. Now, that's probably not going to happen. So, my friends, you are stuck with me and the PDB. And on that note, we conclude your morning brief. As always, we close out the show, reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world.

It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. Good day.