trump transition team Signed an agreement with the current administration that would unlock access to resources to advance the transition process, but the Trump team said they would not sign another significant transition agreement with the General Services Administration that would delay the transition further. Will make it secure and transparent, the Biden White House said on Tuesday.
Biden White House officials said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has yet to agree on the terms of a memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department that will allow the processing of security clearance requests.
The General Services Administration is an independent federal agency that is in charge of federal office space, but also supports transition teams, presidential inaugural work, and, under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, regularly reporting to Congress on the status of transition planning. Needed
Since September – well before the election – the White House and the agency have asked the Trump transition team to sign a White House memorandum of understanding and a General Services Administration memorandum of understanding, as both Republicans and Democrats have done in previous transitions. , White said House spokeswoman Saloni Sharma. The Trump team announced Tuesday that it has signed the White House agreement.
Susie Wills, chief of staff for the incoming Trump White House, said, “After completing the selection process of his incoming Cabinet, President-elect Trump will next step in the transition to his administration by executing a memorandum of understanding with President Joe Biden's White House. Entering the stage.” “This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency and completing the orderly transition of power.”
Signing the White House agreement allows authorized members of Trump's team access to White House and agency facilities, information and staff.
But since the Trump team is refusing to sign a similar agreement with the General Services Administration, office space, secure email addresses and funding for transition staffing and other activities will not be provided by GSA, Sharma said. He said that despite the lack of a signed memorandum, the White House will work to protect non-public information and prevent conflicts of interest.
And although White House officials say there has been progress toward a memorandum of understanding between the Trump team and the Justice Department, White House officials say no DOJ agreement has been signed. It is the Department of Justice that is responsible for processing Request for security clearance For incoming administration officials who will need access to briefing materials and national security information, and these clearances cannot occur without a memorandum of understanding signed between the Trump transition team and the Justice Department.
The Justice Department, not the White House or the General Services Administration, is responsible for security clearances for transition personnel.
Katherine Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center who focuses on the presidential transition, said the terms of the memorandum of understanding outlined by Wills were, in her assessment, an attempt by the Trump transition team to protect itself from transparency. Reflects.
“They keep making it somehow because it's never been done before,” he said.
While Wills suggests that not signing General Services Administration documentation saves taxpayers money, there are some strings attached to using taxpayers' money — specifically, greater requirements for transparency and documentation, Dunn said. Tenpas said.
“If you take government resources, the GSA memo requires you to report all donations to the transition, and they cannot exceed $5,000 per person,” he said. “It's two things: one, they want privacy about who their donors are and if they don't accept GSA money, they don't have to disclose anything — and second, they have some supporters, like Miriam Adelson and Elon Musk is a billionaire… so this notion of getting $7 million from the government to help jump-start your transition is not as attractive as it might have been to the Harris campaign, but I think more importantly that they probably don't Are.' “I want people to know that so-and-so has given $2 billion to change.”
Additionally, government servers — unlike private Gmail accounts during the transition — are more secure and subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act, he said. FOIA allows citizens to request communications and other records.
“GSA wants them to use computers for the government because they feel their networks have more security, and they're concerned that if they're doing government business on the transition to a private network, it'll be more easily hacked. May go.” Dun Tenpas said. “They say things like the changes already have existing security and information security built in, meaning we won't need additional government and bureaucratic oversight. But the other reason is, if they sign off on government computers , then all those emails are subject to FOIA requests.”
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