President-elect Joe Biden painted a bleak picture of the state of the country’s national security and foreign policy agencies, warning that in the four years that President Trump has been in office, these departments have suffered “enormous damage” and have been “emptied in personnel, ability and morale. “
Commenting on the agency’s review process that has taken place in the weeks since the election, Biden said that in some cases, his teams working to assess the state of the federal government have received “exemplary cooperation” from career officials.
But from others, “mainly the Department of Defense, we find obstruction of political leadership,” he said.
“The truth is that many of the agencies that are critical to our security have suffered enormous damage,” said the president-elect.
Biden said the Trump administration’s actions “make it more difficult for our government to protect the American people, to defend our vital interests.”
The president-elect’s comments followed an instruction from members of his national security and foreign policy review team “about his findings and the main challenges the Biden-Harris government will inherit,” said his transition team before his comments.
Biden said it is crucial to ensure that “nothing is lost” during the change in presidential administrations and emphasized the need for his team to have a “clear picture” of the country’s strength posture around the world and operations to deter enemies as well as “full visibility” of budget planning underway at the Pentagon and other agencies to “avoid any window of confusion or recovery” that could be exploited by enemies.
“We encountered obstacles from the political leadership of the Department of Defense and the Office of Administration and Budget,” said Biden. “At the moment, we are simply not getting all the information we need from the outgoing administration in the main areas of national security. In my opinion, it is nothing less than irresponsibility. “
The president-elect said that during the Trump administration, his agency’s review teams found that political processes “have atrophied or been put aside.” The United States, he said, “will regain our credibility to lead the free world.”
“At the moment, there is a huge vacuum,” said Biden. “We will have to regain the confidence of a world that has started to find ways to work around us or to work without us.”
The president-elect began his comments by acknowledging the explosion that shook downtown Nashville on Christmas morning and praised Nashville police officers who quickly evacuated the area before the explosion, as well as the firefighters who responded.
“His bravery and coolness probably saved lives and prevented a worse outcome, and we are forever grateful,” he said.
In comments before meeting with advisers, Mr. Biden said that in the four years of the Trump administration, the nation has seen “our security threatened by the isolated approach under this government”.
“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 the cooperation of our allies and partners.”
The president-elect has spoken openly about the myriad challenges his government will face when he takes office, the main one of which will reverse the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and mitigate the spread of the virus.
Mr. Biden will also be tasked with responding to the massive cyber attack which reached several government agencies, including the Energy, State and Treasury Departments.
The perpetrators of the violation, 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 scope of the cyber attack and the damage done remains unclear. Mr. Biden last week condemned Mr. Trump for allowing the breach to occur under his supervision and vowed to take it seriously.
The president-elect said he had not seen or heard evidence to suggest that the breach is under control, adding that “the Department of Defense does not even inform us about many things”. A Defense Department official, however, contested this.
Instructions between the transition team and the Department of Defense have been paused for the holiday and will resume in early January, according to Pentagon officials, who said the holiday break was mutually agreed. The transition team said there was no agreed break.
Ellee Watson contributed to this report