When the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, learned of the program's existence a few months after arriving at the agency, he shut it down and immediately held classified briefings for both intelligence committees.
Metcalfe served former Howard government immigration minister Philip Ruddock but was also involved in controversial briefings of both the media and the then opposition after the high court overturned the former Labor government's so-called Malaysia solution.
It is easy to produce a catalogue of problems, and the new mayor and cabinet have been receiving a series of briefings describing both the problems and the lack of resources to deal with them.
President Bush also now receives daily briefings from both the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, and Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, are frequently present during those White House sessions.
But, even before the Comey news broke, Ryan had called on James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, to bar Clinton from getting the classified briefings that both Presidential candidates receive on the grounds that she couldn't be trusted with classified information.
The timing of the two announcements led to some fairly awkward press briefings in both cases.
When the Obama administration was working to get congressional support for the Iran nuclear deal, top officials traveled to the Capitol to give classified briefings to both chambers of Congress.
Both briefings were sparsely attended by the traditional media -- and, while they seem obsessed by polling snapshots, they are missing an important component to the election battle ahead that polls don't catch--but count for millions of mobilized voters.
In his capacity as DCI, Bush gave national security briefings to Jimmy Carter both as a Presidential candidate and as President-elect, and discussed the possibility of remaining in that position in a Carter administration, but did not do so.
During the Clinton and Blair Administrations, I received practically identical briefings from senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
