Here's How Trump's Stalling Risks Our National Security.
I’ve seen my share of presidential transitions. The administration hurts the country by not cooperating with President-elect Biden. by Susan Rice
'Transitions? I’ve seen a few.
Since 2000, I have participated in three presidential transitions from the vantage points of both the departing and the incoming administration. This year, although I serve on the Biden-Harris transition advisory board, I am not a member of the transition team and, as always, these views are my own.
Each transition I experienced was different, but what they shared was a recognition that our country’s national security is best served when both sides endeavor to have a responsible handoff of power. Conversely, it is undermined when either side refuses to engage the other seriously.
In the week since Joe Biden’s victory became clear, President Trump and his administration have taken no steps toward starting the process of transition. The risks to our national security are mounting. . .
In 2020, as the days tick by and Mr. Trump shows no signs of starting a transition, the risks increase.
Mr. Biden and his top national security team have not been provided the daily intelligence briefings to which they are entitled. Mr. Biden’s team is not receiving classified information. The Biden-Harris agency review teams are constituted but have been denied access to every element of the executive branch. Vital exchanges of information and expertise that would help combat Covid-19 and jump-start the economy remain stalled.
While we are extremely fortunate that Mr. Biden may be the most experienced president-elect ever to take office and brings with him a deep bench of highly qualified, knowledgeable experts, the Trump administration’s continued refusal to execute a responsible transition puts our national security at risk. Without access to critical threat information, no incoming team can counter what it can’t see coming.
If, today, the Trump administration is tracking potential or actual threats — for instance, Russian bounties on American soldiers, a planned terrorist attack on an embassy, a dangerously mutated coronavirus, or Iranian and North Korean provocations — but fails to share this information in a timely fashion with the Biden-Harris team, it could cost us dearly in terms of American lives.
Indeed, the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the 2001 Qaeda terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that killed some 3,000 Americans, found that the truncated 2000 transition slowed the installation of key national security officials and stressed the importance of complete and thorough presidential transitions to U.S. national security.
Instead of acting in the national interest to orchestrate a responsible, democratic transition, Mr. Trump and many Republicans are spending time sowing false doubts about the legitimacy of Mr. Biden’s election.
Tragically, but not surprisingly, Mr. Trump appears determined to take a final wrecking ball to our democracy and national security on his inevitable way out the door.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/opinion/transition-national-security.html?
= new reply since forum marked as read
