Since winning the presidential election, Joe Biden has had a rocky start in his transition to power. In what may be his most direct criticism yet, Biden blasted the political appointees for hindering his incoming team’s work.
Biden blasted the US Defense Department and its political appointees as well as those from the Office of Management and Budget for their lack of cooperation with his transition team. The president-elect made the comments during his meeting with members of his National Security and Foreign Policy teams. Biden called the lack of cooperation “irresponsible” and stated that they are not being given all the necessary information in terms of national security. Biden also noted that adversaries may try and use the current situation in the United States to their advantage.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said that the Pentagon was cooperating as required in the transition and were acting with “the utmost professionalism.” Miller said that the Defense Department had conducted 164 interviews with over 400 officials while also providing the Biden transition team with more than the required information. Miller had also claimed that both sides agreed to pause meetings for the holiday, a claim that was immediately refuted by the Biden transition team’s executive director Yohannes Abraham who said that no such agreement was made.
This is only the latest in roadblocks that Biden and his transition team have faced as weeks following his election win, the Defense Department did not give Biden key intelligence briefings. This is one of the most important aspects of the presidential transition. According to analysts, Trump’s sudden surge of appointing loyalists to key positions was only done to sow chaos in the outgoing president’s last few weeks in office. Trump, to this day, has refused to accept defeat.
With the recent cyberattack believed to be backed by the Kremlin, many are wondering what Biden’s approach to relations with Russia would be. A piece by Andrew Roth in The Guardian suggests that the president-elect’s experience during the Cold War years may come to play in how he may decide to approach Russia. According to former Senator Bill Bradley, who visited Russia with Biden during his days as a Delaware Senator back in 1979, “Joe knew the Soviet Union, knows Russia, has experience with Putin, understands what’s possible and probably not.”
However, Bradley says that Biden could not be manipulated, recalling the meeting Trump had with Putin. Bradley noted that there is a better chance for a new relationship with Russia under the Biden administration compared to Trump.