US President-elect Joe Biden said, Monday, December 28, 2020, that employees appointed by Donald Trump in the Pentagon are obstructing the transition process, warning that the United States may face security risks as a result.
After receiving, along with his deputy, Kamala Harris, a briefing on national security from his staff in charge of arranging the move, Biden said, according to Agence France-Presse, on Monday, that administrative staff at the Pentagon as well as the Office of Administration and Budget are creating "obstacles."
He added, "Currently, we are not getting all the information we need from the outgoing administration on major points related to national security." He described it as "from my point of view, this is no less than irresponsible."
The president-elect said that he seeks to obtain a "complete picture" from the outgoing administration about the concentration of American soldiers around the world. He added: "We need a full vision of the budget planning that is being worked on in the Ministry of Defense and other agencies in order to avoid any confusion or exploitation by our opponents to catch up with us."
For his part, outgoing President Donald Trump has refused, so far, to admit defeat in the presidential elections that took place on November 3, which Biden won, making allegations without evidence, about violations and fraud.
The Trump administration raised concern by announcing a series of appointments in the Pentagon leadership since the election, including the dismissal of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who distanced himself from using the order to use force against anti-racism protesters, earlier this year.
For his part, Trump Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said that the outgoing administration had agreed with the Biden team to stop the briefings during the holiday season, which the Biden team denied.
To that comes Trump's appointment of loyalists to the Pentagon at the last moments of his term, amid severe tensions with Iran, which Trump held responsible for a missile attack on the US embassy in Iraq before the first anniversary of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike near Baghdad Airport.