luchtschip schreef op 5 december 2020 11:57:
De effecten van Trump's politieke zuivering bij het Pentagon
Pentagon blocks visits to military spy agencies by Biden transition team
The Trump administration has refused to allow members of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to meet with officials at U.S. intelligence agencies that are controlled by the Pentagon, undermining prospects for a smooth transfer of power, current and former U.S. officials said.
The impasse has prevented the Biden team from engaging with leaders at the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other military-run spy services with classified budgets and global espionage platforms.
The Defense Department rejected requests from the Biden team this week, officials said, despite a General Services Administration decision Nov. 23 that cleared the way for federal agencies to meet with representatives of the incoming administration.
The rejections came even as Biden advisers spent much of this week meeting with officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA, agencies that are part of the U.S. intelligence community but independent of the Defense Department.
Sue Gough, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said Friday that the Biden team “has not been denied any access.” In what officials in the Biden camp interpreted as a change in the Pentagon position, she said the requested meetings could take place as early as next week.
By then, Biden advisers will have waited more than a month since the election to have meaningful contact with intelligence agencies that have multibillion-dollar budgets, satellite networks that circle the planet and vast surveillance authorities.
The Pentagon has been in significant turmoil since the election. Christopher Miller was installed as acting secretary of defense last month after President Donald Trump fired Mark Esper, his Pentagon chief.
Miller has presided over the removal of senior Pentagon officials, replacing them with perceived Trump loyalists including chief of staff Kash Patel and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Ezra Cohen-Watnick. In her statement to The Post, Gough indicated that Cohen-Watnick has played a central role in matters related to the transition.
www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/pen...