With just weeks until the inauguration, President-elect Joe Biden says his transition team is not receiving “adequate access to information” from some federal agencies.
During remarks on Monday, Biden spoke about the cooperation his transition team has received from career staff at federal agencies. He said, “From some agencies, our team’s received exemplary cooperation from the career staff in those agencies.”
“From others, most notably the Department of Defense, we encountered obstruction from the political leadership,” he added.
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President-elect Joe Biden: "From some agencies, our team's received exemplary cooperation from the career staff in those agencies. From others, most notably the Department of Defense, we encountered obstruction from the political leadership." pic.twitter.com/aWvepY4m9Z
— The Hill (@thehill) December 28, 2020
He continued, “And right now, as our nation is in a period of transition, we need to make sure that nothing is lost in the hand-off between administrations. My team needs a clear picture of our force posture around the world and our operations to deter our enemies. We need full visibility into the budget planning underway at the Defense Department and other agencies.”
“As I said from the beginning, we’ve encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget. Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.”
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President-elect @JoeBiden says his transition team isn't being given adequate access to information:
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 28, 2020
"Right now, we just aren't getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short…of irresponsibility." pic.twitter.com/bt9Aymzq6D
Biden’s transition process was stalled for almost three weeks after the presidential election, as he waited for the Government Services Administration (GSA) to ascertain that he was the winner of the election.
Shortly after the GSA gave the green light for the transition to begin, Biden said, “Immediately, we’ve gotten outreach from the national security shop to just across the board.”
“And I must say the outreach has been sincere — it has not been begrudging so far, and I don’t expect it to be,” he added.
But in mid-December, the Defense Department temporarily paused its cooperation with the Biden team.
In a statement addressing the pause, Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said, “At no time has the Department cancelled or declined any interview.”
“After the mutually-agreed upon holiday, which begins tomorrow, we will continue with the transition and rescheduled meetings from today,” he added.
However, Biden transition director Yohannes Abraham denied that there was a “mutually-agreed upon holiday.”
“Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed-upon holiday break,” Abraham said, adding, “In fact, we think it’s important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period as there’s no time to spare, and that’s particularly true in the aftermath of ascertainment delay.”
