Following his briefing by his national security and foreign policy agency review teams "on their findings and key challenges that the Biden-Harris administration will inherit," President-elect Joe Biden said the transition into the White House has been met with "roadblocks" from Trump's administration.
WATCH RECAP:
Biden said his team has not received cooperation from the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department calling it "nothing short of irresponsibility."
"We've encountered roadblocks from the political leadership of the Department of Defense & the Office of Management and Budget. Right now, we're just not getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility," Biden said.
Biden also spoke about the recent massive cyberattack that breached numerous government agencies.
"We need to close the gap between where our capabilities are now and where they need to be, to better deter, detect, disrupt and respond to those sorts of intrusions in the future," Biden said.
One of the key challenges Biden spoke about was rebuilding the full set of instruments of foreign policy and national security, which will start with our diplomacy.
"Today we heard from the leaders of the state and USAID agency review teams about the critical early investment we'll need to make in our diplomacy, in our development efforts and in rebuilding our alliances, to close the ranks with our partners and bring to bear the full benefits of our shared strength for the American people," Biden said.
Christoper Miller, who is leading the Pentagon in an acting role, disputed Biden's claims on Monday.
"The Department of Defense has conducted 164 interviews with over 400 officials, and provided over 5,000 pages of documents – far more than initially requested by Biden’s transition team," Miller said. "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. 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. The American people expect nothing less and that is what I remain committed to.”
