Why did Pentagon halt transition briefings? Joe Biden team denies any 'mutually agreed upon holiday break'
The US has faced an alarming cybersecurity breach but the threat has not seen the nation’s polarizing political voices coming together. The Pentagon has reportedly ceased cooperating with the members of the incoming Joe Biden administration on transition-related briefings even as Washington is working to understand the extent of the breach. Besides, the defense department is also playing a crucial role in the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine and the halt in cooperation with the administration that will take over in a month’s time has shocked many.
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, who succeeded Mark Esper last month after the latter was sacked by President Trump, asked the Pentagon to halt cooperation with Biden’s team, leaving the defense department officials in shock, Axios reported.
“The Department of Defense will continue to provide all required support to the Agency Review Team (ART) to keep our nation and her citizens safe," Miller said in a statement, adding 139 interview sessions had occurred.
“At no time has the Department canceled or declined any interview. Our key focus in the next two weeks is supporting essential requests for information on [Operation Warp Speed] and Covid-19 information to guarantee a flawless transition. This is my major focus area.
“After the mutually-agreed-upon holiday pause, which begins tomorrow, we will continue with the transition and rescheduled meetings from today. Again, I remain committed to a full and transparent transition – this is what our nation expects and the DoD will deliver AS IT ALWAYS HAS.”
Biden team says no holiday break mutually agreed upon
Biden’s transition director Yohannes Abraham told the media that there was “no mutually agreed upon holiday break”, the report added. “In fact, we think it’s important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period as there’s no time to spare, and that’s particularly true in the aftermath of ascertainment delay,” Abraham said, taking a dig at the outgoing administration’s delay in welcoming the succeeding administration. Trump is yet to concede defeat in the November 3 election and has warned that he will not vacate the White House on the Inauguration Day.
The move made by Miller, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, was found to be the biggest instance whereby the top level of the Trump administration exhibited mistrust towards the Biden team. In the first week of December, it was reported that the Trump administration stopped Biden’s transition team from meeting with intelligence agencies at the Pentagon.
The Axios report also said the Pentagon officials were livid after The Washington Post published an article on Wednesday, December 17, revealing the amount of money that would be saved if Biden stopped construction of the border wall with Mexico pushed by Trump. It was said that the Trump officials blamed the Biden transition team for the leak.
Officials of the Trump administration left open the possibility of cooperation with the Biden team resuming after a holiday break, the Axios report said, adding that the officials were not sure what prompted Miller to make such a move or whether Trump approved it.
A senior official of the defense department, however, sought to downplay the move, saying it was “a simple delay of the last few scheduled meetings until after the new year”. “These same senior leaders needed to do their day jobs and were being consumed by transition activities. ... With the holidays we are taking a knee for two weeks. We are still committed to a productive transition,” he added.
The break would mean the next briefing will take place effectively on January 4, around two weeks before Biden’s inauguration.