As required of all current and former employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, I submitted the manuscript of this book to the CIA’s Publication Review Board. The PRB is charged with ensuring that neither confidential nor classified information is inadvertently revealed. Debriefing the President twice underwent extensive PRB reviews. The result is twofold: the manuscript’s publication, unfortunately, was significantly delayed, and, throughout this book, you will find black bars used to indicate where the CIA’s redactions were applied. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience, and regret that the CIA has censored some material that in no way compromises official secrets.

John Nixon