With less than two months until President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office, officials at the Pentagon on Monday said they have been unable to begin the herculean task of coordinating the transfer of authority with his Defense Department transition team.
The Pentagon said the Trump transition team hasn’t signed the necessary memorandum of understanding with the Biden administration that would allow the incoming personnel to meet with the designated transition staff at the Defense Department.
“The MOUs have not been signed. We cannot legally have any interaction until those get put into place,” Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Monday. “You’re talking about a transfer of power between administrations. The department will continue to function, but it still has impacts in terms of new people coming into the building [and] getting to understand roles and responsibilities.”
Experts said that a successful presidential transition requires detailed planning and extensive knowledge of personnel, policy, and budgeting issues, especially with a vast civilian and military operation such as the Defense Department. A botched handoff can handicap the new administration far beyond Inauguration Day.
And the Pentagon is not alone: The White House last week complained that Trump transition teams have yet to sign similar memoranda at other departments and offices of the executive branch. Without the agreements, the incoming administration cannot send so-called “landing teams” of policy advisers into individual departments for briefings.
The new Trump teams also cannot accept federal administrative services such as secure email servers and cannot request FBI background checks of nominees such as veterans’ advocate and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Mr. Trump’s pick to be secretary of defense, until the MOUs are signed.
“Handled poorly, both first- and second-term presidents can struggle to implement campaign promises and respond to serious national security and domestic challenges,” said officials with the non-partisan Partnership for Public Service.
Mr. Trump’s transition effort is largely being run with a small group of aides at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, and has paid in some cases for its own background checks rather than rely on the FBI, with whom Mr. Trump has long feuded.
Ms. Singh told reporters, “We certainly don’t want to see a delay, which is why folks are engaged in making sure that the MOUs are signed. But, until those are signed, we can’t engage.”
Outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently sent a letter to military officials promising a smooth transition to the new Trump team.
“As it always has, the U.S. military will stand ready to carry out the policy choices of its next Commander in Chief, and to obey all lawful orders from its civilian chain of command,” Mr. Austin wrote to Defense Department personnel.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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