President-elect Joe Biden painted a grim picture of the state’s national security and foreign policy agencies, and warned that in the four years President Trump has been in office, these departments have suffered a “huge damage” and have been “emptied” in staff, capacity and morale. “
Noting the agency review process that has taken place during the weeks leading up to the elections, Mr. Biden said that in some cases, his teams working to assess the state of the federal government have received “exemplary cooperation” from career staff.
But of others, “especially the Department of Defense, we found obstructions on the part of the political leadership,” he said.
“The truth is that many of the agencies that are critical to our security have suffered enormous damage,” the president-elect said.
Biden said the Trump administration’s actions “make it harder for our government to protect the American people, to defend our vital interests.”
The president-elect’s comments followed an briefing by members of his national security and foreign policy agency review teams “on his findings and the main challenges the Biden-Harris administration will inherit,” he said. your transition team before your statements.
Biden said it is crucial to ensure that “nothing is lost” during the change in presidential administrations and stressed the need for his team to have a “clear picture” of the country’s strength stance around the world and the operations to deter enemies, as well as “completely” visibility ”into ongoing budget planning at the Pentagon and other agencies to“ avoid any window of confusion or upgrading ”that could be exploited by enemies.
“We have encountered obstacles from the political direction of the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budgets,” Biden said. “Right now, we just don’t get all the information we need from the outgoing administration in key areas of national security. In my opinion, irresponsibility is not at all short. “
The president-elect said that during the Trump administration, his agencies’ review teams have found that political processes “have atrophied or been left out.” He said the United States “will claim our credibility to lead the free world.”
“Right now there’s a huge gap,” Biden said. “We need to regain the confidence of a world that has begun to find ways to work around us or work without us.”
The president-elect began his remarks by acknowledging the blast that shook downtown Nashville on Christmas morning and praised Nashville police officers who quickly evacuated the area before the blast, as well as firefighters who went to answer.
“His courage and freshness are likely to save lives and prevent a worse outcome, and we are eternally grateful,” he said.
Speaking before meeting with advisers, Mr. Biden said that in the four years of the Trump administration, the nation saw “compromised our security by the independent approach under that administration.”
“The truth is that the challenges we face today cannot be solved by any country acting alone,” he said. “They demand American leadership. They demand cooperation with our allies and our partners.”
The president-elect has been vocal about the many challenges his administration will face once he takes office, including the main one that reverses the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and mitigates the spread of the virus.
Biden will also have the task of responding to the massive cyberattack which affected numerous government agencies, including the departments of Energy, State and Finance.
The perpetrators of the infringement, it is suspected to have been carried out by Russian hackers, infiltrated computer networks through a popular software product from SolarWinds, a Texas-based company that also works with many of the country’s largest corporations. The full extent of the cyberattack and the damage caused remain unclear. Mr. Biden last week condemned Mr. Trump for having allowed the breach in the clock to occur and he undertook to take it seriously.
The president-elect said he had not seen or heard any evidence suggesting the violation is under control, adding that “the Department of Defense will not even inform us of many things.” A Department of Defense official, however, discussed it.
Information meetings between the transition team and the Department of Defense have been halted for the holidays and will resume in early January, according to Pentagon officials, who said the holiday break was mutually agreed upon. The transition team said there was no agreed break.
Ellee Watson contributed to this report