Thread by @laraseligman

As Trump leaves office, @BryanDBender and I got new details about just how ugly the transition was at the Pentagon. DoD blocked the Biden team from gaining access to critical info about current ops, including the Afghanistan drawdown and Warp Speed. politico.com/news/2021/01/2…

The effort to obstruct the Biden team, led by senior White House appointees at the Pentagon, is unprecedented in modern presidential transitions and will hobble the new administration on key national security matters as it takes over positions in the Defense Department today.

“They really should not be allowed to get away with this. It’s just completely irresponsible and indefensible,” said one transition official. “To play politics with the country’s national security is just really unacceptable.”

Even when the transition team did meet with DoD officials, they were often tight-lipped, as if they had been given explicit guidance about what they could discuss. In fact, "minders" from the general counsel's office were present in all the meetings, & RFI responses were scrubbed

When one transition official bumped into a “very high-ranking” military official a week after their meeting, the officer apologized for his clipped answers.

“We were alone, and he told me ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t able to tell you more, but I was given very strict instructions.'"

The acrimony has gone both ways. At the last minute, the Biden team denied Miller office space and resources for his transition out of the role, a courtesy typically provided to the outgoing team. POLITICO confirmed the move, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

The Biden team chose not to extend Miller that particular “perk” given his acting role & the reduced capacity in the Pentagon due to the pandemic, said one transition official. SecDef nominee Austin has also chosen to do all of his transition planning from home for those reasons.