Despite facing all sorts of obstructions from the president, Joe Biden's transition is in progress. However, with President Donald Trump refusing to concede and pushing his conspiracy theories of massive voter fraud, this changeover isn't a smooth one. The President-elect on Monday said his transition team has "encountered roadblocks" from those appointed by the outgoing president.
Biden said his transition team is facing obstructions from political leadership at the Office of Management and Budget and Defense Department as his advisers continue working with the outgoing administration. Following a virtual briefing from his national security and foreign policy agency review team members, Biden revealed that the Trump administration isn't providing all the information needed from them in crucial national security areas.
During his speech in Delaware, the Democrat accused the outgoing administration of being irresponsible. He went on to say that this behavior makes it harder for the incoming government to protect the people of the United States.
The comments come after Biden's team, and Trump's defense officials sparred over transition meetings after the Defense Department called off meetings. The current Defense Department officials had given less importance to accounts about cancellations or delays, but Biden said on Monday that he isn't happy about the state of that connection, NPR reported.
Biden went on to say that his team needs more details about the position of the American force around the world and the country's operations in order to deter the enemies. In addition to that, he said they require full visibility of the budget planning, which is in progress at various agencies, including the Defense Department, to avoid confusion or catch-up that the enemies may take advantage of.
A spokesperson of the Defense Department told CNN that there are three briefings/interviews slated to take place this week with the Biden transition team. Two of these meetings will revolve around coronavirus issues, and the other one pertains to cybersecurity.
This comes after Defense Secretary Chris Miller issued a statement denying claims made by Biden. He pointed out that the Pentagon has carried out 164 interviews with more than 400 officials and provided more than 5,000 pages of documents to the transition team, according to POLITICO.
Furthermore, Miller said the DoD political and career officials had been professionally working with the transition team to facilitate transition activities in a short schedule, adding that they will continue doing so in a collegial and honest manner. The President-elect's remarks sparked tensions with the Pentagon once again, more than a week after the defense officials unexpectedly called off series of meetings with the transition team that was scheduled for Dec. 18.