THREAD: George Shultz, who died yesterday after passing his 100th birthday just two months ago, was a momentous and fascinating national security figure—and a generally under-appreciated consumer of intelligence.

Some thoughts:

1/9

As director in the early ‘70s of what became the Office of Management and Budget, he became the first in that job to read the President’s Daily Brief (PDB). But not for long.

“I decided I was not reading anything useful to me,” he told me. “I was better off not having it.”

2/9

He would go on to become the only person in modern history to serve in FOUR different Cabinet positions (as head of Labor, OMB, Treasury, and State).

3/9

Shultz replaced Al Haig as Reagan’s Secretary of State in 1982 and began getting the PDB each day again.

He told me he found it worth his time for two reasons:

“You read the PDB partly for its content and partly because that tells you what’s being told to the president.”

4/9

In 1985, Shultz heard about a White House plan to have thousands of officials sit for polygraph tests to find out who’d been leaking.

He told Reagan he’d do it—once, and only once, before resigning in protest.

The polygraph proposal died quickly after.

5/9

As Secretary of State, Shultz reacted in a more direct way to leaks—by simply shutting up during high-level meetings.

An excerpt from my book, The President's Book of Secrets:

6/9

Shultz stayed at State for 6+ years—across five separate national security advisors—helping end the Cold War peacefully.

His work with Soviet officials paved the way for nuclear arms reductions, Soviet acquiescence in the US liberation of Kuwait years later, and much more.

7/9

“The best leaders trust their followers with the truth,” Shultz wrote two months ago, “and you know what happens as a result? Their followers trust them back. With that bond, they can do big, hard things together, changing the world for the better.”

8/9 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/11/10-most-important-things-ive-learned-about-trust-over-my-100-years/?arc404=true

Bob Gates called Shultz, with the possible exception of George H. W. Bush, the “best senior user of intelligence I ever encountered.”

Shultz was helpful and generous with his time when I interviewed him for The President’s Book of Secrets. His wisdom will be sorely missed.

/end