Politico | Joe Biden rips Pentagon over transition foot-dragging: ‘We have encountered roadblocks’
- The US president-elect says adversaries might look to exploit a ‘window of confusion’ during the change of administrations
- Biden urges the Defence Department to share information with his team, citing the recent hack of US agencies and the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nick Niedzwiadek and Lara Seligman on politico.com on December 28, 2020.
US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday called out political appointees at the Defence Department, saying they were putting up “roadblocks” and keeping his transition team at bay with less than a month until he becomes commander in chief.
“Right now we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,” Biden said in Delaware after a briefing with members of his national security team. “It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.”
Biden said that what he sees as foot-dragging on the part of the Trump administration is particularly galling in light of the recently disclosed massive cyberattack that hit much of the federal government and other global threats. Biden also said the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville, Tennessee, underscored the importance of the issue.
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Christmas blast: vehicle explodes in US city of Nashville after chilling bomb warning
“We need to make sure that nothing is lost in the handoff between administrations,” the president-elect said. “We need full visibility into the budget planning under way at the Defence Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit.”
