Daily US Times: In 2000, the presidential race was hovering in limbo when outgoing President Bill Clinton decided to let then-Gov. George W. Bush read the ultra-secret daily brief of the country’s most sensitive intelligence.
Clinton was a Democrat and his vice president, Al Gore, was running against Bush, a Republican. Al Gore had been reading the President’s Daily Brief for eight years; Clinton decided to bring Bush into it in case he won — and he did.
President Trump has not followed Clinton’s lead. As he contests this year’s election results, the US President has not authorized President-elect Joe Biden to lay eyes on the brief.
Intelligence and national security experts hope Mr Trump changes his mind, citing the need for an incoming president to be fully prepared to face any national security issues on Day One.
Former Michigan Republican Rep. Mike Rogers said: “Our adversaries aren’t waiting for the transition to take place. Joe Biden should receive the President’s Daily Brief starting today. He needs to know what the latest threats are and begin to plan accordingly. This isn’t about politics; this is about national security.”
U.S. adversaries can take advantage during an American presidential transition and key foreign issues will be bearing down on Joe Biden the moment he steps into the White House.
Among them: Unless President Trump extends or negotiates a new nuclear arms accord with Russia before Inauguration Day on January 20, Biden will have only sixteen days to act before the expiration of the last remaining treaty reining in the two of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. Perhaps the US spies have picked up tidbits about the Russians’ redlines in the negotiations, or about weapons, it really wants to keep out of the treaty.
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