Trump employees are blocking the transition process

Wilmington: US President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that Donald Trump-appointed Pentagon employees are blocking the transition process, warning that the United States could face security risks as a result.

After he and his deputy, Kamala Harris, received national security briefings from their team assigned to organize the relocation, Biden said Pentagon administration staff and the Office of Management and Budget were creating “barriers.”

“Currently, we do not get all the information we need from the outgoing administration on the main points related to national security,” he added.

He described the matter as “from my point of view, this is nothing short of irresponsibility.”

Biden said he was looking to get a “complete picture” of the outgoing administration of US GIs around the world.

“We need a complete vision of the budget planning that is being worked on in the Ministry of Defense and other agencies to avoid any confusion or exploitation by our opponents to reach us,” he added.

So far, Trump has refused to admit defeat in the November 3 presidential election that Biden won, making allegations without evidence of abuse and fraud.

The Trump administration has alarmed by announcing a series of appointments to the Pentagon leadership since the election, including the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who distanced himself from using the order to use force against anti-racist protesters earlier this year.

Trump’s Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said the outgoing administration had agreed with Biden’s team to stop briefings during the holiday season, a claim that Biden’s team denied.

On Monday, Miller issued a statement confirming that the Pentagon’s coordination efforts with the transition team “go beyond what other departments have done and we still have more than three weeks left.”

He added that officials from the Ministry of Defense will continue to work “in a transparent and collegial manner” to support the transfer of power.

Trump’s appointment of Pentagon loyalists comes late in his tenure, amid serious tensions with Iran, whom Trump blamed for a missile attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq ahead of the first anniversary of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in US drone attack near Baghdad airport.