WASHINGTON – Elected President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Monday that his defense team is facing an obstruction by the Department of Defense, and it has just over three weeks until the inauguration day expressed new concern over Trump’s cooperation. government with transitional officials.
“At the moment we are not getting all the information we need from the outgoing government in key national security areas,” he said. Biden in Wilmington, Del., Said after he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were briefed by members. of the agency’s review teams for agencies dealing with national security and foreign policy, such as the departments of defense and civil service.
“I think it’s irresponsible,” he said. Biden said.
In his remarks, the president-elect said his team had experienced “roadblocks” from political leaders at the Department of Defense as well as at the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Biden stressed the importance of a smooth transition, saying: “At a time when our country is in a period of transition, we need to make sure that nothing is lost during the handover between governments.”
“My team needs a clear picture of our power structure around the world and our operations to restrain our enemies,” he continued. “We fully need the full budget planning at the Department of Defense and other agencies to avoid any window of confusion or overtaking that our opponents may be trying to exploit.”
Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller defended the level of cooperation with the Biden team in a statement Monday. He said the department continues to “schedule additional meetings for the rest of the transition and to respond to all requests for information according to our attention.”
“Our DOD political and career officials work with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities within a compressed timeframe, and they will do so in a transparent and collegial manner that upholds the best traditions of the department,” he said. Miller said. said. “The American people expect nothing less, and I remain committed to that.”
The Biden transition was initially hampered by the Trump administration’s delay in appointing Mr. Pray formally as the apparent winner of the election. The head of the General Services Administration only took the step on 23 November.
Recently, Mr. Biden and his team complained about their association with the Pentagon in particular.
A week before Christmas, Yohannes Abraham, the executive director of the Biden Transition, said the president-elect’s team had ‘experienced isolated resistance in some quarters, including through political appointments in the Department of Defense’. He expressed his concern about what he described as a sudden standstill in the already limited collaboration there. ‘
Mr. Miller quoted a ‘mutually agreed-upon holiday break’, but Mr. Abraham said that no such agreement was made.
Last week, during an event where Mr. Biden criticized President Trump for disrespecting the Russian invasion of the federal government and private companies, Mr. Biden said: “The Department of Defense will not even inform us about many things.” The department responded by calling the allegation “untrue”.
After the absence of mr. Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, and a purge of the department’s senior leadership, put the Pentagon under political control of several Trump loyalists, including Kashyap Patel, Miller’s chief of staff. is for his efforts to discredit the Russia investigation when he was a Republican congressional aide.
But even while Mr. Biden on Monday complained about the lack of cooperation of some political appointments in the Trump administration, he also praised federal government employees who worked with members of his transition. “For some agencies, our teams have received exemplary collaboration from the career staff,” he said.
Mr. Biden also offered an insignificant assessment of the toll that four years of Trump’s presidency have taken on the country’s national security apparatus.
“The truth is that many of the agencies that are critical to our security have done enormous damage,” the president-elect said. “Many of them have been hollowed out – staff, capacity and morale.”
Mr. Biden stressed the promise to rebuild alliances and restore the status of the United States in the world, and he has appointed most of his top foreign policy and national security officials – although he has not yet made his choice to join the CIA. to lead, did not disclose.
Since winning the election, the president-elect has held talks with a long list of foreign leaders, and in his remarks Monday, he reiterated his desire to repair relations damaged during the Trump administration.
“At the moment there is a huge vacuum,” he said. Biden said. “We will have to regain the trust and confidence of a world that has begun to find ways to work around us or without us.”
Michael Crowley contribution made.