(by Andrea Pinto) The Democrats are pushing for Trump to admit defeat and initiate the transition between the two administrations and thus allow President-elect Biden to begin receiving confidential intelligence information and government agencies to collaborate with incoming officials .
However, nothing suggests a softening of the line adopted by Trump inspired, for now, by the greatest possible ostracism.
The interim US Defense Chief Christopher Millerrecently in a letter he appealed to his employees to follow orders to the letter. "Do your jobHe wrote, quoting Bill Belichick, the leader of the New England Patriots, a fervent supporter of Trump.
Miller was invested with the prestigious post at the head of the Pentagon according to a precise strategy of President Trump. Before admitting defeat, he saw fit to replace all the heads of the country's critical structures deemed not faithful to his will. Trump's idea is not to allow a smooth handover with the newly elected President John Biden by approving important foreign policy decisions at the last minute.
Inside the Pentagon, a former high-ranking official told the Financial Times that "Right now there is a lot of concern for national security, because of Trump's decisions ”.
The Pentagon and US intelligence agencies have suffered four years of radical upheaval that began on Trump's first day in office when he visited the CIA headquarters. The 2017 visit was something of a truce offered by Trump to the counter-intelligence agency that had previously accused him of behaving as in "Nazi Germany".
National security insiders and officials argue that Trump's post-election layoffs and sudden changes to foreign policy decisions have prompted senior administrative officials to counter them by trying to delay their effects. So far they have succeeded, but with constant changes of jersey the situation could precipitate.
"People get fired and if you're not fired, cornered"He said Paul Gebhard, a former special assistant to the secretary of defense who worked on the transition of the George W. Bush administration in 2000. The "torpedoes" are high-level personalities who followed the firings of the Chief of Defense Staff (chairman of the Joint Staff), general Mark milley, the director of the CIA Gina Haspel and the director of the FBI Christopher wray.
On Tuesday, the president also sacked the top electoral security official after he announced the presidential election was correct.
Trump's foreign policy decisions
In foreign policy Trump is signing troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan, imposing sanctions on the Houthis in Yemen, which could exacerbate a humanitarian crisis and endanger the peace process.
Last week he also considered bombing nuclear facilities in Iran as some newspapers feared he might deploy troops to the streets in the event of post-election protests.
The United States has now officially exited the Treaty of Open Skies (Open Skies), six months after President Donald Trump announced that he wanted to withdraw from the agreement, accusing Russia of repeated violations of the treaty. Open Skies, which entered into force in 2002, aims to promote trust among the 34 countries that adhere to it, allowing the exchange of information on military and intelligence flights.
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had asked for written assurances from NATO members that all data collected from now on will not be shared with America, adding that US bases in Europe will not be exempt. by Russian surveillance missions. While US officials say Moscow has violated the Open Skies agreement by blocking surveillance flights around certain areas, including the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and the border with Georgia, as well as banning observation flights on its own military exercises.
John Biden's reaction for now only on the virus
“The sooner we have a plan for the transition, the sooner we can move forward on the vaccine road. If Trump and the Republicans continue to hinder the transition, more people will die "Biden said, stressing the need to access the Trump administration's vaccine distribution plan. Biden then specified: "One thing is having the vaccine one thing is vaccination. If we have to wait until January 20 to start planning, we will have lost a month and a half. It is important that there is coordination now, now or as quickly as possible ".