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President-elect Joe Biden has said that Donald Trump appointees at the Pentagon were stalling in the transition and warned that the United States faces security risks as a result.
After he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were briefed by their transition teams on national security, Biden said appointees at the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget had put up “roadblocks.”
“Right now, we are simply not getting all the information we need from the outgoing administration in key areas of national security,” Biden said after the briefing.
“It is nothing less, in my opinion, irresponsible.”
The president-elect said he was seeking a “clear picture” from the outgoing administration on the posture of US forces around the world.
“We need full visibility into ongoing budget planning at the Department of Defense and other agencies to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit,” he said.
Trump has refused to grant the Nov. 3 election, which Biden won by some seven million votes and 306-232 in the Electoral College state by state. The president has made unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud.
The Trump administration has raised concerns by shaking the Pentagon leadership since the election, including the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had distanced himself from the president’s use of force against unarmed anti-racist protesters earlier this year.
Trump’s new Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller has said the outgoing administration has agreed with Biden’s people to pause briefings for the holiday season, a claim the incoming team called false.
Miller issued a statement yesterday saying that the Pentagon’s coordination efforts with the transition team “already outpace those of recent administrations with more than three weeks to go.”
He added that Defense Department officials will continue to work in a “transparent and collegial manner” to support the transition.
Trump’s last-minute installation of loyalists at the Pentagon comes amid high tensions with Iran, which Trump blamed for a rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq ahead of the January anniversary of the assassination of a senior general. Iranian for the United States.
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