[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – A Trump loyalist who was recently appointed Pentagon chief of staff controls the access of Biden’s transition team to Pentagon officials, even preventing some career officials and experts from giving out information on the Key defense issues to the transition team and to tell appointees are leading instead, say two current and two former US officials.
In some cases, Chief of Staff Kash Patel, who was assigned to the Pentagon after last month’s election, has rearranged policy descriptions to include content favorably reflecting Trump’s policies before information was shared with the Biden transition, two of those responsible. said.
“He told everyone that we were not going to cooperate with the transition team,” one of the former officials said of Patel, and he “put a lot of restrictions on him.”
Patel made it clear early in the process that senior politicians would attend transition team meetings and briefings dealing with important political issues, officials said, which has a chilling effect on information shared with him. Biden’s team.
While the mundane questions and inquiries of Team Biden are left to Pentagon policy experts, the two current officials and a former official have said that some important or urgent policies – such as those involving Iran , Afghanistan and North Korea – are underway. run by elected politicians, some recently installed by Trump, or who have not responded at all.
Historically, career civilians and military officials prepare a lot of briefing material and information during a transition, according to officials who have been in previous transitions.
Most requests for information from Biden’s transition team are directed to Tom Muir, director of Washington headquarters services and senior director of civil transition, a current official said. Muir then informs Patel, who assesses the interview requests and which staff will handle the information requests.
Some briefing material passed through Patel before he made it to the transition team, and he politically turned some information and hid it completely in other cases, according to current and former officials.
“It has been more politicized than previous transitions,” one official said. “Patel controls the flow of information.”
In some cases, according to the two current officials, career officials have been left out of the process altogether, with political appointees taking the lead rather than subject matter experts handling the issues.
Pentagon officials have provided the Biden Agency (ART) review team with briefing materials, according to a senior defense official and one of the former defense officials. In recent years, transition teams have received binders, but this year the Pentagon delivered iPads with information, officials said.
Trump Loyalists
Last week, a senior defense official said Patel was leading the transition efforts for the Pentagon, just two weeks after arriving at the Pentagon after being appointed chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller.
Three other Trump loyalists have also taken powerful positions in the Pentagon since the November 3 election, including a retired brigadier. General Anthony Tata, who currently serves as Under-Secretary for Policy Defense; Ezra Cohen-Watnick, now Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; and retired Colonel Doug Macgregor, now Senior Advisor to Acting Secretary Miller.
Members of the review team have asked to speak with various political figures, career civilians and military officials, a defense official said.
Patel ordered that the transition team’s requests to speak with career civilians or military officials be approved by Patel or Muir, also a politician, before they can continue, according to two current US officials. So far, most requests have been approved, but officials say they have not responded to all requests.
A Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden’s transition team declined to comment.
Patel, who was appointed Pentagon chief of staff on November 10, previously worked in the Trump administration on the National Security Council. He was also an assistant to Representative Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Who worked on the House’s contentious investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
[ad_2]
Source link