President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department are blocking his transition team from accessing information that could compromise U.S. national security.
“Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration on key national security areas,” Biden said while speaking in Wilmington, Del. “It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.”
Biden said his team has “encountered roadblocks” from Trump administration political appointees in the Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon.
“We need full visibility into 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,” he said.
Biden’s comments come after aides to his transition team said earlier this month said the transition had been met with some push back in the Defense Department, which had placed meetings on hold. While acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said a “mutually agreed-upon holiday pause” would take place, transition aides disputed that, saying no such agreement had been made.
A transition official told the Wall Street Journal that the Defense Department has continued to “deny and delay” meetings, with “no substantial progress” being made since team Biden’s earlier complaint.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department pushed back Monday, saying it has held 164 interviews with more than 400 officials and given more than 5,000 pages of documents to Biden’s team.
“DoD’s efforts already surpass those of recent administrations with over three weeks to go, and we continue to schedule additional meetings for the remainder of the transition and answer any and all requests for information in our purview,” Miller said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.
Biden’s transition was delayed earlier when the General Services Administration, which allows the transition to formally begin, waited to acknowledge Biden’s win as Trump’s election challenges played out.