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President-elect Joe Biden has warned that President Trump’s 4 years have damaged the nation’s national security and foreign policy agencies. He said, “Those departments have incurred enormous damage and have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity, and morale”. Biden said that in some instances, his teams working to assess the state of the federal government have received exemplary cooperation from career staff. But, the Department of Defense and others have found encountering obstruction from the political leadership. Biden said, “The truth is, many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage”. He said the actions of the Trump administration makes it harder for our government to protect the American people, to defend our vital interests.

The transition team of Biden said the comments of the president-elect followed a briefing from members of his national security and foreign policy agency review teams on their findings and key challenges that the Biden-Harris administration will inherit. Biden said it’s crucial to ensure nothing is lost during the change in presidential administrations. He stressed the need for his team to have a clear picture of the country’s force posture worldwide and operations to deter enemies, as well as full visibility into the budget planning underway at the Pentagon and other agencies. It would avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that can be exploited by enemies. Biden said, “We have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget”.

President-elect added, “Right now, we just aren’t 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”. He said that his agency review teams have discovered the policy processes have atrophied or been sidelined during the Trump administration. Biden said “The US will reclaim our credibility to lead the free world. Right now, there is an enormous vacuum. We’re going to have to regain the trust and confidence of a world that has begun to find ways to work around us or work without us”. The president-elect started his remarks acknowledging the explosion that rocked downtown Nashville on Christmas morning and praised the Nashville police officers who swiftly evacuated the area before the blast, as well as the firefighters who responded.