Trump aides erecting ‘ roadblocks’

▶ Biden blasts outgoing govt for endangering security

US President- elect Joe Biden said on Monday many of the US security agencies had been “hollowed out” under President Donald Trump and the lack of information being provided to his transition team by the outgoing administration was an “irresponsibility.”

“We’ve encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget,” Biden said after a meeting with his foreign policy team.

“Right now we just aren’t getting all of the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility,” he added.

After Biden beat Trump in the November 3 presidential election, the Democrat’s team only began meeting with administration officials in late November to coordinate the handover.

Trump, a Republican, has refused to concede defeat and his administration only authorized cooperation with Biden on November 23 Biden takes office on January 20.

Earlier in December, Biden’s team said they had met resistance to requests for information from some Pentagon officials.

The Pentagon pushed back. In a statement, acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said the Pentagon had conducted 164 interviews with over 400 officials and provided more than 5,000 pages of documents.

But Biden reiterated his team’s concerns on Monday.

When he takes office, he will inherit a wide range of foreign policy and national security challenges as well as the coronavirus pandemic raging across the globe.

One of his toughest tasks will be rebuilding US alliances that have frayed under four years of Trump’s “America First” agenda.

“My team needs a clear picture of our force posture around the world and our operations to deter our enemies,” Biden said.

“We need full visibility to the budget planning under way at the Defense Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch up that our adversaries may try to exploit.”

But Biden said his team, while securing cooperation from some federal agencies, had “encountered obstruction from the political leadership” at the Pentagon.

“We just aren’t getting all of the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas.”

Joe Biden

US President- elect