Pentagon Slams Biden Over 'False' Claims His Team Is Denied Access to Info
Department of Defense responds to allegations made by former vice president
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The Pentagon has responded after former Vice President Joe Biden claimed that his team has been denied access to the requested information.
On Monday, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller denied an allegation by Biden who said earlier on the same day that the government agency is obstructing the transition process to the hypothetical Biden administration.
Democrat Biden claimed on Monday that his team has “encountered obstruction” from the Department of Defense (DOD).
“We need full visibility into the budget planning underway at the Defense Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit,” Biden said.
“We have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget.”
“Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,” the Democratic presidential nominee added.
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“It’s nothing short of irresponsible,” Biden declared.
In a statement, Miller pointed out that the DOD has conducted 164 interviews with more than 400 officials, responded to 188 requests for information, and handed over more than 5,000 pages of non-public and classified information.
The DOD provided “far more [information] than initially requested by Biden’s transition team,” Miller revealed.
“DOD’s efforts already surpass those of recent administrations with over three weeks to go and we continue to schedule additional meetings for the remainder of the transition and answer any and all requests for information in our purview,” Miller said.
“Our DOD political and career officials have been working with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities in a compressed time schedule and they will continue to do so in a transparent and collegial manner that upholds the finest traditions of the Department,” Miller added.
“The American people expect nothing less and that is what I remain committed to.”
According to The Daily Wire, Biden made similar claims last week, saying, “The Defense Department won’t even brief us on many things.”
The Department of Defense noted that Biden’s claim was “patently false.”
A Department of Defense official added last week: “The department will continue to provide the information and meetings necessary to ensure the continuity of government.
"As we’ve said, meetings will begin again in early January, and in fact, we’ve begun scheduling them.”
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Miller said last week that the Biden transition team had agreed to a holiday break from meetings and briefings.
The Biden team claimed this was not accurate, saying, “There was no mutually agreed-upon holiday break.”
Foreign policy and national security matters are an area where Biden has been criticized, even by former Obama officials, for being wrong.
Robert Gates, who served as defense secretary for the Obama administration, said that Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
