One of the hardest culture shifts took place with the National Security Council. NSC staff were accustomed to producing long-winded classified memos. But if the aim was to educate this new commander in chief, they couldn’t submit a fifty-page report entitled something like “Integrated National Strategy for Indo-Pacific Partnership and Defense,” expect him to read it, and then discuss it. That would be like speaking Aramaic to Trump through a pillow; even if he tried very hard to pay attention, which he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to understand what the hell he was hearing.
