Following uproar that President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team was denied defense intelligence briefings, the Pentagon said Wednesday that nearly 100 officials and four intelligence agencies have already met with the transition team.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency all met with Biden officials on Monday and Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.
The update comes after the Washington Post reported Friday that requests for intelligence meetings by the Biden transition team were rejected or not approved last week.
In all, 47 intelligence officials, including each of the agency directors and deputies, were part of the meetings held.
“We’re going to continue supporting the transition fully and professionally,” Hoffman told Pentagon reporters.
The Biden transition team also met this week with Deputy Secretary David Norquist and secretaries and service chiefs from the Air Force, Army, Space Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as several undersecretaries. The team has also been given over 2,200 documents and 43 transition binders, including seven on intelligence agencies.
The Pentagon assembled defense reporters by phone over the weekend to complain about reporting that the Biden transition team was not getting access.
“The accusation by anonymous sources that DOD has not been fulfilling its commitment to professionally assist any of the Agency Review Teams is demonstrably false and patently insulting,” said the unattributed DOD statement.
A defense official said some Biden transition team requests were sent to the wrong channel.
“The DOD and its transition leadership are fully cooperating with the Biden transition team, placing national security and the protection of the American people at the forefront of any and all discussions,” the official said Saturday.
