Politico | Pentagon denies blocking Biden transition team from meeting with defence intelligence agencies
- The Pentagon has already conducted ‘dozens’ of meetings with Biden’s Pentagon review team, according to a statement
- However, the Biden team has yet to meet with members of the defence intelligence community due to a process issue
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Lara Seligman on politico.com on December 5, 2020.
The Pentagon on Saturday pushed back strongly against reports that the Trump administration blocked the Biden-Harris transition team from meeting with defence intelligence agencies, insisting the Department of Defence is committed to a smooth handoff even as President Donald Trump still refuses to concede the election.
“The DoD and its transition leadership are fully cooperating with the Biden transition team, placing national security and the protection of the American people at the forefront of any and all discussions,” Acting Secretary of defence Christopher Miller said in a statement on Saturday.
The Pentagon has already conducted “dozens” of interviews and meetings with Biden's Pentagon review team and has “many dozens more” scheduled in the coming weeks, according to a separate statement emailed to reporters. The department said it has also provided thousands of pages of documents, including classified materials.
However, the Biden team has yet to meet with members of the defence intelligence community due to a process issue, said a senior defence official who briefed reporters on Saturday by phone on condition they not be identified by name.